Donepezil in Alzheimers Disease - Research Paper Example

? The Physiology of Alzheimer’s disease Forgetting is a common thing that everyone encounters several times in life. One can forget the name of a high school classmate, the time and date of an appointment, or maybe the place where he kept his cell phone. These minor cases of forgetting are nothing compared to Alzheimer’s disease because in Alzheimer’s one forgets everything he ever knew. It is like wiping the whole mind clean, without leaving a trace of memory. People with Alzheimer’s forget their closest friends, children and relatives. Besides the patients of Alzheimer’s medical condition forget the basic skills of caring for oneself because they are mentally disturbed, and they cannot perform any life-support tasks. This overview will analyze the physiology of Alzheimer’s medical condition, as well as the possible methods of prevention and treatment. Further the write will discuss ways of diagnosing the medical condition. Alzheimer’s Disease According to Donna (2011), Patients of Alzheimer’s ailment have a tendency to have packages of a stringy protein interweaved around the heart of the cell bodies of their neurons. The interwoven stringy proteins are made up of Alzheimer’s disease-associated protein (ADAP) (Donna, 2011). The second indication of Alzheimer’s disease is the presence of amyloid plaques that cover the branches of neuron axons. These plaques are globs of proteins that stiffen the axons, and they reduce their working efficiency. An increase in the number of Amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles affect the brain’s ability to recall any past events. Alzheimer’s medical condition is an irrevocable, disease of the brain that gradually destroys the thinking skills of an individual and destroys his memory. The disease renders the patients incapable of performing the basic tasks that maintain human dignity (Donna, 2011). Alzheimer’s medical condition is the most frequent reason for dementia among the aged. Dementia is a medical condition that refers to the failure of cognitive performance of the patient. Dementia renders a patient incapable of thinking, reasoning, remembering and behavioral abilities, to an extent that they cannot attend to their daily chores as usual. Dr. Alois Alzheimer noticed some alterations in a woman’s brain tissues (Donna, 2011). The woman had passed on from a strange mental sickness, which had symptoms of language problems, memory loss, and erratic behavior. The doctor noticed that the brain of the dead woman had Amyloid plaques and neuralfibrillary tangles as well as loss of link between the brain’s nerve cells. People with Alzheimer’s forget their closest friends, children and relatives (Donna, 2011). Besides the patients of Alzheimer’s disease forget the basic skills of caring for themselves because they are mentally disturbed, and they cannot perform any life-support tasks Symptoms and signs The initial sign that suggests that a person could be suffering from Alzheimer’s is memory loss because of cognitive failure. This condition is also referred to as amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). People with MCI eventually develop to Alzheimer’s (Joanne, 2006). Alterations in cognitive abilities and worse loss of memory are evident in people with mild conditions. Patients experience problems like getting lost on their way home, repeating questions, and inability to handle money, personality and mood changes and poor judgments. At the moderate level of Alzheimer’s medical condition, patients suffer from brain damage in the areas that handle language, sensory processing conscious thought and reasoning. Confusion and memory loss grow worse, and patients experience challenges recognizing friends and family (Joanne, 2006). Further, the patients may behave impulsively, have delusions and hallucinations, and find it difficult to perform complex tasks like wearing clothes. Extensive spread of tangles and plaques in the entire brain marks the onset of severe Alzheimer’s medical condition. At this stage, the tissue of the brain has shrunk considerably, rendering the patients incapable of communicating. The patients are totally dependent on care givers for basic care, as they cannot perform any meaningful task. Causes of Alzheimer’s There is no distinct cause of Alzheimer’s, but scientists have proved that it develops as a result of long-time complex processes in the human brain (Joanne, 2006). The causes for the brain processes can be as a result of combined contribution of environmental, genetic or lifestyle factors. Depending on an individual genetic make up, the environment in which he resides and the lifestyle that the person chooses to live, they might increase their chances of contracting Alzheimer’s, or decrease it. The fundamentals of Alzheimer’s Scientist can now visualize beta-amyloid that is linked with plaques by picturing the brains patients who are alive. They hope the findings from their studies of the disease will facilitate them to uncover the causes of Alzheimer’s medical condition (The New York Academy of Sciences, 2006). Studies on the possible alterations are suggesting the reason why Alzheimer’s affect aged people, as age causes significant changes in the brain neurons, which are not health friendly. Such alterations include brain inflammation, shrinking, mitochondrial dysfunction and generation of free radicals among other. It is possible to inherit Alzheimer’s causing genes from one’s parents, and in this case, a patient develops familial Alzheimer’s disease. Further, Apolipoprotein E increases an individual’s risks of getting Alzheimer’s medical condition (The New York Academy of Sciences, 2006). Metabolic and vascular conditions contribute to cognitive decline in an individual, and this proves that environmental factors play a role in Alzheimer’s development. Aging people can reduce their chances of developing Alzheimer’s by engaging in active physical activities, eating nutritious meals and pursuing objectives that are mentally stimulating. Diagnosis It is not possible to diagnose a living person for Alzheimer’s, because it involves an extensive examination of the brain tissue in an autopsy. However, doctors have devised several ways that give them essential clues to determine whether a patient is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (The New York Academy of Sciences, 2006). However, they can diagnose probable Alzheimer’s disease or possible Alzheimer’s. During the diagnosis process, the doctor can ask patients questions that concern their general health, any changes in personality and behavior or their ability to work effectively. Further, they can conduct memory tests, the patients’ ability to solve problems, the patients’ competence in counting, attention and language. Other tests include urinalysis and blood tests so that they can spot other causes of Alzheimer’s (The New York Academy of Sciences, 2006). The final step involves performing brain scans to isolate the causes of Alzheimer from other complications in the brain like brain tumor. Early diagnosis can be extremely helpful to the patient because they can delay the onset of severe Alzheimer’s disease (The New York Academy of Sciences, 2006). Early diagnosis can help the family affiliates of a patient to anticipate for the future and make the necessary preparations for the care. Such preparations include following the legal procedures, arranging the financial matters. However, the underlying disease process cannot be altered in any way. Treatment The complexity of Alzheimer’s does not allow an intervention that is not comprehensive. It requires an approach that integrates the multiple aspects of this disease (The New York Academy of Sciences, 2006). The aim of treating Alzheimer’s disease is not to reverse the processes of this disease because that is not possible. The point of treating Alzheimer’s is to reduce suffering and delay the onset of severe conditions, which render the patient incapable of doing anything. The different aspects of treating Alzheimer’s include the following: Mental Function Maintenance The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approve four medications for treating Alzheimer’s medical condition. Exelon, Aricept and Razadyne drugs, treat up to moderate Alzheimer’s while severe Alzheimer’s is treated using donepezil and Nemanda drugs. The work of these drugs is to control the neurotransmitters, which can be immensely helpful in maintaining memory speaking skills and thinking (The New York Academy of Sciences, 2006). The drugs can also regulate behavioral challenges, and they only remain for a short duration. Mental functioning is crucial to all human beings, as it guides reasoning and logical conduct in a person. If this functioning is lost, then the patient behaves like a mindless child that does not care about human dignity. Although it is not a long time intervention, it is better than none. Management of Behavioral Symptoms Sleeplessness, anxiety, and agitation are the typical behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Other symptoms include wandering and depression and they can be handled using drugs. Behavioral symptoms take the comfort of Alzheimer’s patients, and their treatment aim at restoring their comfort, and make it easy to handle the patients and care for them. Patients who cannot sleep become extremely tedious to for because they require continuous attention without any breaks for the caregivers. Anxiety and depression can make the patient resign and loose hope of ever living again, as the two conditions makes an individual to lack meaning in life (The New York Academy of Sciences, 2006). Such conditions should be treated early enough to eliminate further complications in people with Alzheimer’s disease (The New York Academy of Sciences, 2006). Behavioral symptoms make a patient appear sicker than they are, and, therefore, managing them becomes the primary role in Alzheimer’s treatment process. Prevention, Delaying, or Slowing Alzheimer’s Disease Doctors strive to regulate the causal processes of Alzheimer’s disease. Essential interventions include cognitive training, immunization therapy, antioxidants and treatment of close associates of Alzheimer’s like diabetes and cardiovascular ailments. These interventions help the doctors to regulate the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, but cure the disease. So far it is clear that there is no cure for Alzheimer’s medical condition that is known to the scientists and doctors. Cognitive training helps patients to relearn the basic tasks of life, which grown up individuals ought to perform for themselves (The New York Academy of Sciences, 2006). Immunization therapy helps in managing any event of secondary infection to the patient, which could bring complicated health issues above Alzheimer’s. The purpose of treating diabetes is because diabetic people are highly susceptible to developing complicated health issue like impotence and limb amputation. Further, if an Alzheimer’s patient is affected by cardiovascular ailments, then Death is instantaneous (The New York Academy of Sciences, 2006). Support to Caregivers and Families Alzheimer’s, like any other disease carries with it an unusually high burden to the family members along with caregivers, as well as friends of the patient (Joanne, 2006). People prefer recalling only the happy moments that they shared with their family members, not the end that Alzheimer’s bring to them. Patients at the last stage of Alzheimer become reliant on other populace to aid them execute even the most basic life tasks (Joanne, 2006). The patients cannot handle their waste excrements, and this brings a lot of shame to them. Such incidences cause serious emotional burdens to the family members and friends. All-time hospitalization results to swelling of hospital bills that drain the financial reserves of the family. Further, the family has to cope with the changing roles because of incapacitation of the leader of the family-unit. There is too a high demand for labor to provide daily care to patients (Joanne, 2006). The best resource that family members receive is information that helps them to deal with the patients effectively. They benefit from educative programs that inform them fundamental processes of Alzheimer’s and stages that the disease undergoes before the death of a patient occurs. They also learn about practical and flexible strategies for handling the intricate care-giving circumstances. Family members and caregivers should develop strong networks for support and coping skills. These groups help them avoid any possible emotional breakdown in front of the patient. They should also engage in gainful physical activities developing stress and emotional problems, which can be disastrous to them (Joanne, 2006). They can also participate in support groups that have a cathartic effect to them, as they benefit from sharing experiences with other caregivers. Further, these groups let the caregivers discover respite, get tips, and express concern and obtain emotional soothe. One can obtain support groups benefits online or in-person depending on availability and convenience (Joanne, 2006). The increasing number of patients of Alzheimer’s in the early stages has prompted the support networks to intervene, if a family is not certain about the stage of Alzheimer’s at which, they should place their patient in an assisted living facility. In conclusion, patients of Alzheimer’s ailment have a tendency to have packages of a stringy protein interweaved around the heart of the cell bodies of their neurons. The interwoven stringy proteins are made up of Alzheimer’s disease-associated protein. Alzheimer’s medical condition is an irrevocable, disease of the brain that gradually destroys the thinking skills of an individual and destroys his memory. The initial sign that suggests that a person could be suffering from Alzheimer’s is memory loss because of cognitive failure. There is no distinct cause of Alzheimer’s, but scientists have proved that it develops as a result of long-time complex processes in the human brain. The aim of treating Alzheimer’s disease is not to reverse the processes of this disease because that is not possible. Alzheimer’s, like any other disease carries with it an exceptionally high burden to the folk affiliates and care givers, as well as friends of the patient. References Donna R.S. (2011). Anatomy & Physiology For Dummies. Indianapolis: John Wiley & Sons. Joanne K. (2006). Donepezil in Alzheimer’s disease: an evidence-based review of its impact on clinical and economic outcomes. 2. (3) 3-4. The New York Academy of Sciences. (2006). The Biology of Apolipoprotein E: A Novel Pathway for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease. 3. (4). 3-9. Read More