Every year September 21st is commemorated worldwide as World Alzheimer's Day and it was launched in 1994 with support from the World Health Organization. This day is viewed to create consciousness about this disease and also to emphasize the need of paying concentration towards Alzheimer's patients to diminish their sufferings.
Alzheimer's (AHLZ-high-merz) is an ailment that destroys brain cells and causes problems with thinking, language and behavior. Alzheimer's disease is named after Alois Alzheimer, German Neurologist and Psychiatrist who in 1907 first explained the brain syndrome.
At the instant, Alzheimer's is progressive and irreversible so there is no magic pill that can reverse the developments of Alzheimer's disease. Creating throng awareness about this tragic circumstance can help identify Alzheimer's at an early phase and afford avenues for proper support and heed for patients.
It is a chance to raise global awareness about dementia and its impact on families and the important work of our members throughout the world. ADI coordinates World Alzheimer's Day and provides members with materials to help them organize their own events.
In our materials and activities ADI and Alzheimer associations across the world will focus on the many issues surrounding the 'Faces of dementia'. They will be asking if you recognise the face of dementia while paying tribute to those who represent the 'Faces of dementia' in all parts of the world and working tirelessly to promote increased support and care for people with dementia and their carers.Every year on 21 September Alzheimer associations across the globe unite to recognise World Alzheimer's Day and 2011 will be no exception with events taking place internationally. We are confident that the large numbers of people involved and the media coverage these events will gain can make a real difference for people with dementia, their families and careers worldwide.
About dementia
The Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia. Dementia is a collective name for progressive degenerative brain syndromes which affect memory, thinking, behavior and emotion. Symptoms may include:
- Loss of memory
- difficulty in finding the right words or understanding what people are saying
- difficulty in performing previously routine tasks
- personality and mood changes
Types of dementia
There are a large number of conditions which cause the symptoms of dementia, as a result of changes that happen on the brain and the ultimate loss of nerve cells (neurons). The most common causes are:
- Alzheimer's disease
- Vascular dementia
- Dementia with Lewy bodies
- Fronto-temporal dementia (including Pick's disease)
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia and accounts for 50% - 60% of all cases. It destroys brain cells and nerves disrupting the transmitters which carry messages in the brain, particularly those responsible for storing memories. Alzheimer's disease was first described by Alois Alzheimer in 1906.
During the course of Alzheimer's disease, nerve cells die in particular regions of the brain. The brain shrinks as gaps develop in the temporal lobe and hippocampus, which are responsible for storing and retrieving new information. This in turn affects people's ability to remember, speak, think and make decisions. The production of certain chemicals in the brain, such as acetylcholine is also affected. It is not known what causes nerve cells to die but there are characteristic appearances of the brain after death. In particular, 'tangles' and 'plaques' made from protein fragments are observed under the microscope in damaged areas of brain. This confirms the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
Symptoms
Typically, Alzheimer's disease begins with lapses of memory, difficulty in finding the right words for everyday objects or mood swings. As Alzheimer's progresses, the person may:
- Routinely forget recent events, names and faces and have difficulty in understanding what is being said
- Become confused when handling money or driving a car
- Undergo personality changes, appearing to no longer care about those around them
- Experience mood swings and burst into tears for no apparent reason, or become convinced that someone is trying to harm them
- Adopt unsettling behavior like getting up in the middle of the night or wander off and become lost
- Lose their inhibitions and sense of suitable behavior, undress in public or make inappropriate sexual advances.
Vascular dementia accounts for about 20% of all cases of dementia.
Vascular disease occurs where blood vessels are damaged and the supply of oxygen is at risk. If oxygen supply fails in the brain, brain cells are likely to die leading to a series of mini strokes (infarcts) and possible vascular dementia.
The mini strokes that cause vascular dementia are often so slight that they cause no immediate symptoms, or they may cause some temporary confusion. However, each stroke destroys a small area of cells in the brain by cutting off its blood supply and the cumulative effect of a number of mini strokes is often sufficient to cause vascular dementia. Vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease frequently occur together and they may often act in combination to cause dementia.
Symptoms
- Mental decline is likely to have a clear start date and symptoms tend to progress in a series of steps following each attack, suggesting that small strokes have been occurring
- May include severe depression, mood swings and epilepsy
- Some areas of the brain may be more affected than others. Consequently, some mental abilities may be relatively unaffected
Dementia with Lewy bodies is the third most common cause of dementia and may occur in up to 20% of cases confirmed at autopsy. Dementia with Lewy bodies is similar to Alzheimer's disease in that it is caused by the degeneration and death of nerve cells in the brain. It takes its name from the abnormal collections of protein, known as Lewy bodies, which occur in the nerve cells of the brain.
Half or more of people with Lewy body disease also develop signs and symptoms of Parkinson's disease. People with Lewy body disease are very sensitive to some tranquillizers known as antipsychotic or neuroleptic drugs and their use should be avoided if at all possible.
Dementia with Lewy body affects:
- Concentration and attention
- Memory
- Language
- The ability to judge distances
- The ability to reason
- People with Lewy body disease can experience visual hallucinations
Fronto-temporal dementias are a relatively rare cause of dementia and typically develop at an earlier age than Alzheimer's disease, usually in a person in their forties or fifties. The frontal lobe of the brain is particularly affected in early stages.
Frontal lobe dementia is caused in a similar way to Alzheimer's disease in that it involves a progressive decline in a person's mental abilities over a number of years. Damage to brain cells is more localized than in Alzheimer's disease and usually begins in the frontal lobe of the brain.
Symptoms
- The frontal lobe governs people's mood and behavior. The person's mood and behavior may become fixed and difficult to change, making them appear selfish and unfeeling
- The person does not usually have sudden lapses of memory which are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.
A reasonably accurate diagnosis of dementia can be made by taking a careful history of the person's problem from a close relative or friend, together with an examination of the person's physical and mental status. There is, however, no simple test to make a diagnosis and dementia can only be confirmed with certainty by examining the brain at post mortem. When making a diagnosis, it is important to exclude other treatable conditions that cause memory loss such as depression, urinary infection, vitamin deficiency and brain tumor. An early diagnosis is helpful, because it:
- enables caregivers to be better equipped to cope with the disease progression
- provides people with dementia with an opportunity to make decisions about their financial and legal affairs before they lose the ability to do so
- gives people with dementia a better chance to benefit from existing treatments.
Every person is unique and dementia affects people differently - no two people will have symptoms that develop in exactly the same way. An individual's personality, general health and social situation are all important factors in determining the impact of dementia on him or her.
The most common early symptoms of dementia are:
- Memory loss
Declining memory, especially short-term memory, is the most common early symptom of dementia. People with ordinary forgetfulness can still remember other facts associated with the thing they have forgotten. For example, they may briefly forget their next-door neighbor's name but they still know the person they are talking to is their next-door neighbor. A person with dementia will not only forget their neighbor's name but also the context. - Difficulty performing familiar tasks
People with dementia often find it hard to complete everyday tasks that are so familiar we usually do not think about how to do them. A person with dementia may not know in what order to put clothes on or the steps for preparing a meal. - Problems with language
Occasionally everyone has trouble finding the right word but a person with dementia often forgets simple words or substitute's unusual words, making speech or writing hard to understand. - Disorientation to time and place
We sometimes forget the day of the week or where we are going but people with dementia can become lost in familiar places such as the road they live in, forget where they are or how they got there, and not know how to get back home. A person with dementia may also confuse night and day. - Poor or decreased judgment
People with dementia may dress inappropriately, wearing several layers of clothes on a warm day or very few on a cold day. - Problems with keeping track of things
A person with dementia may find it difficult to follow a conversation or keep up with paying their bills. - Misplacing things
Anyone can temporarily misplace his or her wallet or keys. A person with dementia may put things in unusual places such as an iron in the fridge or a wristwatch in the sugar bowl. - Changes in mood or behavior
Everyone can become sad or moody from time to time. A person with dementia may become unusually emotional and experience rapid mood swings for no apparent reason. Alternatively a person with dementia may show less emotion than was usual previously. - Changes in personality
A person with dementia may seem different from his or her usual self in ways that are difficult to pinpoint. A person may become suspicious, irritable, depressed, apathetic or anxious and agitated especially in situations where memory problems are causing difficulties. - Loss of initiative
At times everyone can become tired of housework, business activities, or social obligations. However a person with dementia may become very passive, sitting in front of the television for hours, sleeping more than usual, or appear to lose interest in hobbies. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms or are concerned about a friend or relative, visit your doctor and discuss your concerns.
Many diseases have specific causes - for example a virus causes measles. Although it is not currently understood why people develop dementia, there are many factors which have been suggested to be linked to the development of the condition. Some are risk factors, whilst others appear to be protective.
Risk factors are characteristics or factors that appear to have some relationship to the development of a disease. If these risk factors are present, there is an increased chance, but not a certainty, that the disease will develop. For instance, not everyone who smokes widens heart disease and not each one with heart disease has been a smoker. Though, smoking is a strong risk issue for heart disease.
Risk factors can embrace family background or exposures to a material or product. Going rear to the example of smoking: a person who smokes has a larger risk of developing heart ailment than someone who does not smoke. Some risk factors can be customized, for example lowering blood pressure reduces the danger of a stroke; other risk factors cannot be modified, for case age or folks history.
Age and a sturdy family history of dementia are risk factors with a strong link to dementia. Excessive alcohol consumption, head injury, and risk factors for heart disease such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and being overweight also seem to enlarge the risk of getting dementia. It seems that people who keep their brains active may be at less risk of developing dementia. Reading, engaging in a hobby such as playing bridge or chess, or doing crosswords and word puzzles may help to condense risk.
What is Alzheimer's disease International (ADI)?
An umbrella organization of national Alzheimer's Association all the way through the world, whose main idea is to progress the eminence of life of people with dementia and their care givers and mainly to elevate awareness about the disease.
Aims of ADI
- Support members in their activities and encourage the formation of new associations.
- Publicize information; for instance, on activities of national associations, research findings, and effective training methods
- Support an annual international conference centered on Carers and care organizations
- Promote research
- Arouse public and political awareness at national and international level
- Formed in 1984 on the initiative of the Alzheimer's Association (USA) and the World Health Organization (WHO)
- Now has members in 60 countries and is growing all the time
- ADI presently cheering the formation of new Alzheimer's Associations in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia
- Officially affiliated with the World Health Organization (WHO)
- Chief initiatives of ADI embrace an annual international conference, regular news letter, internet site, publications and observing World Alzheimer's Day (September 21) (WAD)
- ADI has been based in London, UK since 1995
- National Alzheimer's Associations who tender support services to Carers
- Full membership is given to one national association per country
- Associate membership is given to groups with akin interests, individuals, and business.