Alzheimer's Disease: Causes, Symptoms, Treatments and Preventative Options

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is not part of an aging process, but this neurodegenerative disease is the most common form of dementia affecting more than 24 million people worldwide. AD is regarded as a progressive disease that alters the brain with one in 10 individuals over 65 years old, causing impaired memory, thinking, behavioral, and functional activities.

AD has been documented to be a direct result of a decreased acetylcholine (refers to a prevalent chemical messenger substances called neurotransmitter in a brain which is crucial for behavior, thinking and memory) and reduced cholinergic function. The decrease in cholinergic cortical input can make it more difficult for patients to remember, think and perform simple tasks.

When one gets old, it’s common for the deposits called tangles and plaques to form in the brain, particularly for those patients with AD. These deposits have been observed more significantly and extensively in people with AD as compared to a healthier old person. The occurrence of AD almost doubles every five years after the age of 60 and thus age is the principle risk factor for AD. The presence of mild cognitive impairment can also be a risk factor for AD. Similarly, people who own a specific isoform or variant of the apoE gene called apoE4 are also at a higher risk of AD. Other risk factors of AD may include stroke, smoking, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, high systolic blood pressure, high serum homocysteine levels, a family record of dementia, traumatic brain injury and hyperinsulinemia.

Often times, this condition can be treated and managed if AD is diagnosed at its earlier stages. That allows for better chances for the patients to get healed and cured even though AD is still remained incurable. In most cases, AD does not only affect the patients themselves, but also the caregivers, either physically, socially, economically or even psychologically.

What are the symptoms of Alzheimer’s?

AD can either progress more rapidly or more slowly, which normally proceeds over 3 to 10 years. At the mild stage, patients can still manage to handle their daily activities with some assistance of the caregivers. Patients who suffer from moderate AD may need more assistance with most of their daily routines. In this case, they need caregivers to help them dress, drink, eat and even take a bath. In a chronic stage, patients may have limited insight into the presence of AD symptoms among them.

Elderly people who are under stress or depressed may also experience the similar symptoms as in AD even though they may not have AD. In fact, AD affects people in different ways and the symptoms caused by AD can get worst over time and become noticeable in their day-to-day tasks. In general, short-term loss of memory and thinking are the most common symptoms found in AD. Therefore, it’s common for them to forget what they ate or drank this morning.

In fact, a patient with AD may also experience the following symptoms:

• Often repeat things
• Feel more anxious, cautious and/or suspicious
• Loss of interest in people they liked before
• Loss of interest in things and activities they used to enjoy
• Undergo a drastic personality and behavioral changes, including agitation on the cause of AD, lack of empathy, and/or they can even become disinhibited
• Lose their ability to speak fluently; loss of thought when speaking; having difficulty to find and form words or/and phrases while speaking
• Feel more stressed when asked to make a decision
• Always misplace common objects
• Having difficulty to calculate even questions as easy as “1+1=?”
• Forget how to get back to a familiar place
• Forget simple things (e.g. their name, familiar people’s name, house’s telephone number, date of the day)

Diagnosis and Treatment of AD

There is no single test to diagnose AD and hence an accurate diagnosis usually needs a patient to undergo a series of clinical examinations to rule out the potential causes of AD. Patients are encouraged to undergo an imaging test of the brain to help find out vascular causes of tumors, dementia or other structural abnormalities or damages that may have similar symptoms to AD.

Patients who suspect that they may have AD should undergo a complete clinical evaluation for several weeks or months that includes behavioral assessments, intellectual functioning tests, memory tests, and clinical observations.

In addition, patients who are diagnosed with AD should undergo several tests that include the clinical assessment of changes in the memory, functional abilities and behaviors, and intellectual functioning to help assess the progress of AD.

Although AD is known to be incurable, there is much that can be done when it’s diagnosed and treated at its earlier stage to relieve its symptoms and progress.

A class of drugs known as Cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEls) is usually used to treat AD. These drugs can help increase the availability of acetylcholine in the brain by inhibiting two enzymes known as butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) that help break down acetylcholine.

It’s commonly known that Cholinesterase inhibitors may have less efficiency in treating more severe AD, but clinical researches recommend clinicians to initiate AD treatment with Cholinesterase inhibitors, especially among patients with moderate-to-severe AD. They are also advised to maintain Cholinesterase treatment in AD patients even when the disease has progressed to a chronic stage.

What are the Preventative Measures for AD?

In recent years, vitamins have been implicated as the potential preventative agents against AD. A number of studies have suggested the intake of appropriate amounts of vitamin C and E might be a better protective measure against AD. This is also confirmed by a study from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging that vitamins (E, C, A, B6, B12 and folate) are effective in protecting against AD. Nevertheless, when these vitamins are taken simultaneously, only high intake of folate remained significantly linked with a decrease risk of AD.

Refrain from alchoholic, carbonated or caffeinated drinks, smoking, especially if over 60. Eat healthily by increasing the appropriate intake of alkaline foods (e.g. tofu, abm mushrooms, wakame), foods rich in Lecithin (e.g. old corn, soy rich foods), antioxidants (e.g. cauliflower, walnut, green tea, blueberries), beta-carotene (e.g. carrot, spinach), folate (e.g. leafy green vegetables, oranges, bananas, spinach), Omega-3 fats (e.g. canola, walnut, flaxseed, soybean oil), high-fiber (e.g. millet, corn, oatmeal, whole wheat bread), trace element and other essential nutrients.

Always control your blood sugar, blood pressure, temper or anger to maintain a healthier state. Learn to have a sense of humor and don’t stress yourself but try to be optimistic towards your life. Remember to pay specific attention to all treatments of diabetes, stroke, hypertension, artery hardening, hyperlipedimia and be careful not to sustain injury to the brain.

Adopt a healthier lifestyle by constantly exercising or walking, taking adequate sleeping and relaxation, replenishing your body with appropriate amount of alkaline water, and cutting off excessive intake of sugar, junk, processed and fast foods.

How you can help AD patients?

You can be morally supportive by accompanying them to walk about the park, spending some time to tell them stories, or invite them to sing and pray together with you. You should help them with memory recall activities, give them a peace of mind and guide them for their daily schedule (such as taking a bath, changing clothes, combing hair, brushing teeth) patiently. Pay attention to their foods- not too sour, too hot, too cold, too hard, too sweet, too bitter, and not too much fats.