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Do you know someone who suffers with Alzheimer's disease? Or someone who is a caregiver to a loved one with this devastating disease? If so, you understand the heartache associated with an Alzheimer's diagnosis.
Who are we without our memories of past experiences? For most of us, the though of losing our memories to Alzheimer's disease is horrifying. But there is much more to Alzheimer's than memory loss.
From Rocks In My Dryer - What I'd Like You To Know: Alzheimer's...
A lot of people mistakenly think of Alzheimer’s as “loss of memory” and leave it at that. Unfortunately, the disease progresses beyond the memory. The victim regresses verbally, mentally and physically to the state of an infant. Eventually, complications end their life. That’s the sugar-coated picture. Each person’s journey through the disease process is different, usually taking years to reach its inevitable and tragic end.
There is no cure. Nothing can prevent it. Nothing can stop it once it starts. There are drugs on the market that can slow down the progression, postponing the inevitable, drawing the entire process out longer than it would otherwise take.
There is no treatment. There is no surgery. There is no prevention. There is no cure. Nobody recovers. Nobody goes into remission. Nobody!
. . .
Here are a few things you should know about Alzheimer’s Disease:
• It is the 6th leading cause of adult death in the United States.
• Someone develops Alzheimer’s every 71 seconds.
• Approximately 5.2 million people in the United States currently live with Alzheimer’s.
• Hereditary Alzheimer’s Disease can develop in persons as young as 30 years old.
• More women develop Alzheimer’s than men.
• By age 65 years, you have a 1 in 10 chance of getting Alzheimer’s.
• By age 80 years, that chance goes up to 50/50.
From Karen at Midlife's a Trip - What You Don't Know About Alzheimer's...
For years what I knew about Alzheimer’s could fit on the head of a pin. I didn’t really understand how this disease ravages a brain. I even remember joking about Alzheimer’s and using the phrase “a little touch of Al” to describe a moment of forgetfulness. But now with a mother and best friend afflicted with this dreadful degenerative disease, there’s little room to be flip and uninformed.
From Dr. Ann Louise - If Someone I Loved Had Alzheimer's...
Someone develops Alzheimer’s disease (AD) every 70 seconds. Already more than 5 million Americans live with this memory-destroying disease—frustrating for them, tragic for those who love them.
A slow, progressive brain disease, Alzheimer’s impairs language, perception, planning skills, and reasoning as well as memory. Forgetting where you put your glasses doesn’t mean you have AD, but not realizing that you wear glasses does!
The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease doubles every 20 years. Women are more likely to develop AD—and not just because they outlive men. Recent studies suggest that estrogen contributes to this disease.
From Amanada - Get Involved! November is "National Alzheimer's Awareness Month" and "National Caregivers Month" ...
Did you know Alzheimer's is known as the "family disease" because it so deeply affects a patient's entire family? It's true. In fact, 87% of all Alzheimer's caregivers are family members: children, spouses, or even grandchildren and brothers or sisters of the patient. Did you know that, in 2008 alone, there were 9.9 million Americans that acted as caregivers to an Alz patient, providing a combined total of 8.5 billion hours of care? These numbers alone allude to the serious nature of caregiving and the intense connection that family members have to their Alz relative.
But sometimes, even though we know how important it is to raise awareness or support a cause, we don't quite know how to get involved. This is especially true if we're already busy with other health communities and causes. So, to make it easier for you to get involved I compiled a list of really simple, quick ways to get involved with Alzheimer's this month and encourage those in your health communities to do the same. You don't have to be personally tied to Alzheimer's to use your Health Activist skills to help the cause.
HBO's The Alzheimer's Project...
One of the most devastating forms of memory loss is Alzheimer's disease, an irreversible and progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills. Today, Alzheimer's is the second most-feared illness in America, following cancer, and may affect as many as five million Americans.
