>> General Info about Alzheimer's Disease
"If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory. There seems something more speakingly incomprehensible in the powers, the failures, the inequalities of memory, than in any other of our intelligences," wrote Jane Austen, the English writer. This most wonderful gift, if you loose, can make your life chaotic.
The enduring disorder in memory retention is known as Alzheimer's disease. Generally, the disease affects the brain tissues after one reaches forty years. Once affected, Alzheimer's gradually destroys the ability to reason, remember, imagine and learn. It is marked by abnormal clumps (plaques) and irregular knots (neurofibrillary tangles) of brain cells. For reasons not well understood, these plaques and tangles take over healthy brain tissues, devastating the areas of the brain associated with intellectual function.

>>What are the causes of Alzheimer's Disease ?
These factors influence the condition but are not necessarily the causes.
* Risk factors are : Increasing Age.
* Family history and genetics.
* Sex of the person.
* Environmental factors.

>>What are the symptoms of Alzheimer'sDisease?
The affected individual may not be aware of these changes at first, but friends, relatives and co-workers notice that the person:
* Is increasingly and persistently forgetful. The affected individual may not be aware of these changes at first, but friends, relatives and co-workers notice that the person: * Is increasingly and persistently forgetful.
* Mildly disoriented.
* Frequently loses or misplaces familiar items.
* Has mild difficulties performing arithmetic calculations.

>>As the disease progresses to moderate Alzheimer's disease, the person:
* Has noticeable memory loss.
* Frequently uses words inappropriately.
* Begins to lose the ability to perform normal tasks of daily living, involving muscle coordination, such as cooking, dressing, bathing, shopping, or signing a checkbook (apraxia).
* May wander off, become agitated, start confusing day from night, and fail to recognize friends and relatives with whom they were very close with.
* Loses the ability to recognize and use familiar objects, such as clothing (agnosia).

>>In the final stage of severe Alzheimer's disease, the affected individual:
* Becomes uncomprehending and mute.
* Loses all self-care ability.
* Is unable to feed, dress and bathe him or herself. If the person has a sudden onset of these symptoms or early symptoms such as seizures, gait problems, or loss of vision and coordination -- it's less likely that they indicate Alzheimer's.

>>How can we diagnose Alzheimer's Disease ?
There are no quick, simple, reliable, inexpensive and noninvasive tests available to diagnose Alzheimer's disease, before the individual suffers significant damage. Diagnosis of Alzheimer's rests largely on the judgment of physicians experienced in dealing with similar illnesses.

>>How can Alzheimer's Disease be treated ?
No drugs are available to treat Alzheimer's disease. But the doctors give medicines to improve behavioral symptoms that often accompany Alzheimer's, including sleeplessness, wandering, anxiety, agitation and depression.