Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Myths

Alzheimer's has become the most prevalent form of dementia among the elderly. Alzheimer's is now impacting on approximately ten percent of those aged 65 and over with the diagnosis up to an accuracy level of up to almost 95%.

Doctors started concentrating on Alzheimer's disease only about thirty years ago and the effects are not even completely realized today, although it was first found in 1906 by Alois Alzheimer, a German doctor.

Studies have shown that getting older is the main cause for contracting this degenerative disease. Unfortunately the person going through the early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease will know something is wrong but won't acknowledge it to others or even to themselves.

Where intervention is concerned, it is treated in the same way as other types of dementia. Unfortunately, there isn't a successful Alzheimer's treatment at present, but some drugs help the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease or stall their progression.

A few of the medicines approved by the FDA including: Tacrine, Donepezil and Rivastigmine have demonstrated some improvement in individuals with Alzheimer's disease but they are short lived and generally don't help the intellectual powers for much longer than six months.

Some sufferers are finding a new treatment though established on the anti-influenza medicine Amantadine, called Memantine, which seems to be slowing down the mental deterioration for patients who are in the advanced phases of Alzheimer's disease.

This new drug Memantine is being offered to sufferers with Alzheimer's disease who have been administered Donepezil. Patients do not suffer as many ill effects, and it's the first drug indicated to have an effect on the symptoms of moderate to severe Alzheimer's with more than 80% of the Memantine excreted and unaltered by the kidneys.

Alzheimer's disease is considered to be a major public health challenge since the general age of the industrialized world's population is increasing and is currently the fourth largest cause of death in the USA. What is more, the economic cost of treating Alzheimer's disease alone annually, has risen to in excess of 40 billion dollars.

The National Institute on Aging have stated that about 50% of its yearly budget was used on research into Alzheimer's, last year alone. Just to prove the point about the seriousness of Alzheimer's disease, research is being conducted out into over three hundred compounds around the world, which may or may not be efficient in treating it.

One way that will help reduce the opportunity of contracting Alzheimer's, it's important to follow a healthy lifestyle and maintain it. Although not fully proven yet, researchers studying Alzheimer's disease patients have discovered that those who stay healthy and cheery have a slower rate of decline.

Fortunately Alzheimer's disease is still mainly affecting aging people but there have been a small number of occasions where younger people have developed it.