Dementia is now a major problem amongst retired people especially the type known as Alzheimer’s disease; being the most common progressive degenerative disorder makes it especially noteworthy. Alzheimer’s is estimated to affect 1 in 10 people over the age of 65 causing problems with the memory centers of the mind; diagnosis of the condition has improved dramatically and is now approximately 87 – 94 percent accurate. The world started focusing on the disease only about thirty years ago although it was first discovered in 1906 by Alois Alzheimer, a German physician; it is a complex disease that is not yet fully understood.

Studies have shown that the greatest known risk for developing Alzheimer’s is increasing age. The problem of early diagnosis is often down to the sufferer, who refuses to admit that anything is wrong even when they start to experience some of the symptoms; to make matters worse, this situation creates a delay in the person and family learning what is wrong.

Alzheimer’s disease is currently treated exactly the same as other forms of dementia. Stalling the progression and possibly improving the condition is about the best that can currently be achieved with drugs but no definitive treatment has yet been discovered. Most Alzheimer’s disease sufferers will be prescribed one of the following drugs Donepezil, Tacrine, and Rivastigmine; all of these have been shown to improve the cognition by about half a year.

Memantine is a new drug that slows deterioration during the later stages and is a derivative of the decades old anti-influenza drug Amantadine; this drug slows down the mental deterioration so those already prescribed Donepezil with severe symptoms are now prescribed Memantine instead. Although Memantine is not a wonder medication, it is showing success where other medicines gave not and with few side effects; with more than four fifths of Memantine excreted through the kidneys, little remains in the patients system.

The average age of a person living in the industrialized world is increasing which is making Alzheimer’s disease a major health issue to be looked into; in the United States it is fourth in the list of fatal diseases. There is also an economic aspect of caring for patients to consider, something that will affect governments everywhere; the annual cost of treatment and care for sufferers is in excess of 40 billion dollars and is expected to rise well beyond this in the future. According to the National Institute on Aging, nearly half of its annual budget is spent on research into this awful condition; currently there are over 300 different compounds at various stages of development for its treatment.

One way to help lower the risk of dementia and one that you can have responsibility for is to change how you live by eating healthily and taking regular exercise. In fact researchers believe the happier and healthier someone is with Alzheimer’s, the slower his or her decline. Fortunately this disease is still mainly affecting people over the age of 60; unfortunately it has started to claim the occasional younger victim.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at 10:03 pm and is filed under Health and Wellness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.