Alzheimers Disease

Alzheimers disease is the most common form of dementia. This incurable, degenerative, and terminal disease was first described by German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer in 1906 and was named after him.

About Alzheimers Disease

The earliest observable symptoms are often mistakenly thought to be 'age-related', or manifestations of stress. In the early stages, the most commonly recognized symptom is inability to acquire new memories, such as difficulty in recalling recently observed facts.

As the disease advances, symptoms include confusion, irritability and aggression, mood swings, language breakdown, long-term memory loss, and the general withdrawal of the sufferer as their senses decline. Gradually, bodily functions and muscle control are lost, leaving the afflicted bedridden and wholly dependent others. AD is a terminal illness with the cause of death typically being an external factor such as infection of pressure ulcers or pneumonia, not by the disease itself.

The average life expectancy following diagnosis is approximately seven years. Fewer than three percent of individuals live more than fourteen years after diagnosis.

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