A Research Study On Alzheimer s Disease - 951 Words

As people age, many different aspects of their lives change. These changes can be a result of anything from the environment to biology. A specific biological change that occurs in approximately 5 million Americans over the age of 65 is memory loss (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). The medical term for this loss of memory is called Alzheimer’s disease, sometimes also referred to as dementia. These changes in memory also affect thinking and behavior that get in the way of everyday things people do. According to Mary S. Mittelman and Dr. PH Cynthia Epstein, the authors of the Alzheimer’s Health Care Handbook, Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological illness that prevents the brain from functioning effectively, with†¦show more content†¦Mild cognitive impairment is the stage where symptoms, such as memory problems, begin to show, but are not serious enough to affect a person’s everyday life. Alzheimer’s dementia is the most severe stag of the disease. This is the stage the symptoms seriously affect a person’s daily life. Memory loss is a significant symptom, but other symptoms include: difficulty finding words, judgment and reasoning difficulties, and trouble identifying objects and faces (University of Maryland Medical Center, 2013). Although, this disease affects about 5 million Americans over 65, the highest percentage of the population affected is 80 years of age or older. My grandmother is 75 years old, and is currently being affected by this disease. She is in the Alzheimer’s dementia stage. This is the stage where mild symptoms turn to severe. Questions and stories become extremely repetitive, and her everyday life and functional ability have been affected. This can become frustrating for people around her, even though it is not her fault, and in turn it can make my grandmother extremely frustrated as well. In addition to cognition and behavior change, this disease can limit a person’s freedom. People affected by this disease forget how to perform daily activities such as hygiene related tasks, or more seriously, driving. Once a person forgets how to