Women are for some reason more susceptible than men, possibly because women are said to live longer than men. The use of certain drugs, such as NSAID’s and statin’s (cholesterol lowering drugs) seem to be linked to patients with Alzheimer’s as well. You’re probably thinking, “If there is no known cause than how do we protect/help our loved ones from this disease?” There are ten major signs/symptoms that can be watched for to help get early treatment for Alzheimer’s: * Difficulties performing familiar tasks such as cooking, operating a car window, or using house hold appliances. * Memory loss affecting job skills such as frequently forgetting appointments, colleague’s phone numbers, or becoming so confused that they are unable to perform their job function. * Problems using language: substituting unusual words or phrases for forgotten ones (ex: instead of asking for a toothbrush, asking for “that mouth
If it is only a mild cause the person affected by the disease is more likely to live longer. If the disease is severe the person has a much shorter life expectancy. Cause People who have a parent or sibling that developed Alzheimer’s disease are two to three times more likely to develop the disease than those with no family history of Alzheimer’s. Head injury has also been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, but the disease is genetic. One in every eight people over 65 years of age will develop the disease.
Negative stereotypes can have harmful consequences for the quality of life of older adults and can also result in a major loss to society. With increases in life expectancy as well as reduced infirmity, many adults are aging well, but negative stereotypes of aging may put society at risk for losing the contributions of these vital and knowledgeable people. The potential individual and social effects underscore the need to understand the content of aging stereotypes in terms of their accuracy and applications. It is especially important to understand how negative stereotypes exacerbate poor performance in areas in which decline is real. That is, beliefs that memory is bad in old age can reduce motivation when increased motivation is needed
Feldman tells us: “(m)iddle adulthood is generally a healthy period, but people become more susceptible to … arthritis, diabetes, and hypertension, and they have a higher death rate than before. However, the death rate among people in middle adulthood in the United States has been steadily declining” (2011, p. 506). Middle adults of higher socioeconomic status have fewer incidents of disease and middle adults of lower socioeconomic have more incidents of disease (Feldman 2011). People gain weight, decline in height and strength, and the lens of the eyes change causing diminished night vision; middle adults, also, experience declines in near vision and awareness of three dimensions (Feldman 2011). Also, cases of glaucoma, one of the diseases that causes blindness, increases during middle adulthood; hearing ability also declines, this involves being unable to pick some high-frequency sounds and some loss of “sound localization” (Feldman, 2011, p.505).
When we hear about Alzheimer’s disease, we usually think of older people, though middle aged people can have an early onset type of this disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia, which is a medical condition that affects the brain. It is an intimidating and threatening disease. It can last anywhere from six to eight years; however, it can be present with no symptoms for
Dementia in Elderly There are many kinds of dementia ranging from mild symptoms to severe (Alzheimer’s) and is a disease of the brain. Dementia is usually a disease of the elderly although it can affect younger people, the onset can start in the mid sixties but most often starts in the 70 to 80 year old age range, growing old does not necessarily mean that a person is going to develop dementia, in fact most older people never suffer from this illness. The question is often asked ‘ is this disease hereditary? ’ the answer is, ‘it has not been proved’. Vascular dementia is the most common form of dementia and is caused by poor circulation of blood in the brain, there are several types of vascular dementia but most common is multi-infarct
The term dementia is used to describe a group of symptoms, a person with dementia is a person with a range of disabilities which can be more difficult to recognise than physical disabilities dementia is more of a generic term and includes a vast range of conditioms and there causes this is because dementia is more tham just memory loss it is also effects the cognitive function so things like remembering, comprehension, awareness, judgement etc this is due to damage or disease in the body more than what is expected from normal ageing. The key functions of the brain that are affected by dementia include the cerebrum, dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) affects the cerebrum. In DLB small, round lumps of proteins build up in the grey matter. These spheres harm nerve cells,
Catherine scullion Unit Understand the process and experience of dementia. 1.1, Dementia caused by a combination of conditions, sometimes called mixed dementia. Dementia is not a specific disease, Its a an overall term that describes a wide range of symptoms associated with a decline in memory or other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a persons ability to perform every day tasks activities. Alzheimers disease accounts for 60/80% of cases. Vascular dementia which occurs after a stroke, is the second most common dementia, but there are many other conditions that can cause symptoms of dementia, including some that are reversible, such as thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies.
Late adulthood does not equal disability, however the onset of disabling conditions occur more frequently with this population. For example, Moore & Miller (2003) noted that vision impairment increases with age. Vision impairment in the elderly causes several functional and social limitations. These limitations include mobility, dressing and bathing, medication management, preparing meals and losing leisure activities such as reading and playing cards (Moore & Miller,
It is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. People 65 and over usually suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. This particular disease is progressive, meaning it worsens over time. In early stages, memory loss is mild, but after several months or years, the patient’s ability to remember things, or hold a conversation is greatly affected. People with Alzheimer’s disease live an average of eight years after the onset of the disease.