Alzheimer’s disease

According to Alzheimer’s Association (2014), dementia is an overall term for the diseases that have memory decline and other cognitive skills that will have impact on a person’s ability in performing daily activity in the life. The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a condition that will bring abnormal changes in the brain that will have impact on someone’s memory and the mental abilities (“Family Caregiver Alliance,” n.d.). In addition, Alzheimer’s disease is an ordinary type of neurodegenerative disorder. It characterized by cognitive impairment with a decline in the ability to carry out living activities (Jellinger, 2015). For the patient with early-onset Alzheimer’s, it usually caused by genetic mutation whereas for the late-onset Alzheimer’s patient, it may cause by a complex series of brain changes. For an instance, the causes may include the combination of genetic problem, environmental problem and lifestyle factors (National Institute on Aging, n.d.).

Factors that will cause Alzheimer’ disease

First and foremost genetic is one of the factors in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease occurs in people with age 30 to 60. It only represents less than five percent of all Alzheimer’s patients. Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease is caused by the rare mutation in the amyloid precursor protein (APP) or presenilins 1 and 2 gene (Munoz & Felsman, 2000). Mutations in the APP and presenilin genes can cause to the production of protein Aβ42 (beta amyloid 1-42) that accumulates into amyloid plaques and lead to a death of neurons by increasing the production of protein Aβ42 (Duthey, 2013). If one’s parents or siblings have Alzheimer’s disease, the probability of having Alzheimer’s will higher than others. If the biological parents carry a genetic mutation for early onset Alzheimer, then their children will have 50 percent of chance in inheriting that mutation (National Institute on Aging, n.d.).

Moreover, lifestyle also plays a crucial role in the development id Alzheimer’s disease. There are some factors that would cause to heart disease also may indirectly increase the probability in developing Alzheimer’s disease. For instance, the common causes are lack of exercise, obesity and smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke . Besides, people with high blood pressure and high cholesterol also have a high change in developing Alzheimer’s disease (Mayo Clinic, 2015).

Symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease

Besides, according to Alzheimer’s Association (n.d. ), the common early symptom of Alzheimer’s disease is hard to remember the newly learned information due to Alzheimer’s changes typically start in the part of the brain that will affects learning. In addition, brain changes that caused by Alzheimer’s disease can cause to some troubles such as memory, thinking and reasoning, making judgments and decisions, planning and performing familiar daily tasks and have a changes in personality and behaviors (Mayo Clinic, 2015). Those are considered as later symptoms. It can also bring out an impact of impaired communication, difficulty in speaking, swallowing and walking (Alzheimer’s Association, 2014).

Treatment in curing Alzheimer’s disease

In present, there are many scientist and researchers looking for new treatment in curing Alzheimer’s disease in order to improve the quality of life for people with dementia. Current studies have shown no known cure for Alzheimer’s Disease, however, drug and non-drug treatments has shown to be useful in managing cognitive and behavior symptoms (Alzheimer’s Association, n.d.). These treatments slow the disease in getting worse and help to improve the brain functioning, it is subject to the condition of patients in the effect of treatments (Richard, 2015). The treatments that used to control the symptoms of AD are P harmacologic treatments and N on-pharmacologic therapy.

Pharmacologic treatments for AD are the medication used to treat the symptoms of AD, there are several scientist implementing drugs and therapist that could stop or slow the malfunction of neuron, however, in current study there is no medication that can cure the death and malfunction of neurons in brain that caused the symptoms of AD (Alzheimer’s Association, 2014). The approved medication to treat cognitive symptoms has two types, it could help to lessen or stabilize the symptoms for a limited time. The two types of medications to treat cognitive symptoms are cholinesterase inhibitors for AD in early to moderate stages and memantine (Namenda) for moderate to severe stages (Alzheimer’s Association, n.d.). These medications are used to treat symptoms such as memory loss, confusion and problem with thinking and reasoning.

In addition, non-pharmacologic therapy is the treatments that use the approaches other than medications, for example, by using physical therapy such as photo as stimulation in improving their memory. Similar to pharmacologic treatments, non-pharmacologic therapy does not show to be able to cure the course of disease for AD (Alzheimer’s Association, 2014). Thus, according to California Workgroup on Guidelines for Alzheimer’s disease Management (2008), non-pharmacologic treatments aimed at maintaining the cognitive function of AD’s patients by controlling the behavioral symptoms and mood disorders such as depression, sleep disturbance and wandering. It is suggested to use the non-pharmacologic treatments before using medication for nonemergency situation to lessen the side effect caused by consuming the medications. For example, if people with AD faces sleep problem, the non-pharmacologic treatments are training the caregivers of AD with importance of sleep hygiene, habits of regular sleeping and waking time or limiting them from daytime sleeping (American Psychiatric Association, 2007).