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MedTech Outlook | Thursday, August 11, 2022
Medications may momentarily improve or slow the progression of Alzheimer's symptoms. In addition, treatments can sometimes support people with Alzheimer's to maximize function and maintain independence.
FREMONT, CA: Alzheimer's is a progressive neurologic disorder that affects the brain to shrink (atrophy) and brain cells to die. Alzheimer's disease is the most general cause of dementia — a continuous decline in thinking, behavioral and social skills that influence a person's ability to function independently.
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Symptoms
The initial signs of the disease contain forgetting recent events or conversations. As the disease advances, a person with Alzheimer's will develop severe memory deterioration and lose the ability to carry out everyday tasks.
Medications may momentarily improve or slow the progression of symptoms. These treatments can sometimes support people with Alzheimer's disease to maximize function and maintain independence for a time. In addition, various programs and services can help support people with Alzheimer's and their caregivers.
Brain changes along with Alzheimer's disease cause growing trouble with:
Memory
Everyone has irregular memory lapses, but the memory loss connected with Alzheimer's disease persists and worsens, affecting the capacity to function at work or home.
People with Alzheimer's may:
• Iterate statements and questions over and over
• Fail to remember conversations, appointments, or events and not remember them later
• Routinely misplace possessions, frequently putting them in illogical locations
• Get lost in regular places
• At last, forget the names of family members and common objects
• Have difficulty finding the right words to identify objects, express thoughts, or take part in conversations
Thinking and reasoning
Alzheimer's disease induces difficulty concentrating and thinking, particularly about abstract concepts like numbers.
Multitasking is especially hard, and it may be difficult to manage finances, balance checkbooks, and pay bills on time. Ultimately, a person with Alzheimer's may be incapable of recognizing and dealing with numbers.
Making judgments and decisions
Alzheimer's causes a fall in the ability to make reasonable decisions and judgments in everyday situations. For instance, a person may make poor or uncharacteristic choices in social interactions or wear clothes that are inappropriate for the weather. It may be harder to respond effectively to everyday problems, like food burning on the stove or sudden driving situations.
Planning and performing familiar tasks
Once-routine activities that need sequential steps, like planning and cooking a meal or playing a favorite game, grow a struggle as the disease progresses. Ultimately, people with advanced Alzheimer's often forget how to perform basic tasks such as dressing and bathing.
Changes in personality and behavior
Brain changes that arise in Alzheimer's disease can influence moods and behaviors. Problems may include the following:
• Depression
• Apathy
• Social withdrawal
• Mood swings
• Distrust in others
• Irritability and aggressiveness
• Changes in sleeping habits
• Wandering
• Loss of inhibitions
• Delusions, for example, believing something has been stolen
Preserved skills
Many crucial skills are preserved for longer periods even while symptoms worsen. Preserved skills may incorporate reading or listening to books, telling stories and reminiscing, singing, music, dancing, drawing, or doing crafts.
These skills may be preserved longer since they are controlled by parts of the brain affected later in the course of the disease.
Treating Alzheimer's disease
Managing behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer's disease
Research has proved that treating behavioral symptoms can make people with Alzheimer's more comfortable and makes things simple for caregivers. Common behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer's incorporate sleeplessness, wandering, agitation, anxiety, aggression, restlessness, and depression. Scientists are learning why these symptoms arise and are studying new treatments — drug and nondrug — to manage them.
Experts accept that medicines to treat these behavior troubles should be used only after other strategies that don't use medicine have been tried.
Medicines to be employed with caution in people with Alzheimer's disease
There are some medicines, like sleep aids, anti-anxiety drugs, anticonvulsants, and antipsychotics, that a person with Alzheimer's disease should take only:
• After the doctor has clarified all the risks and side effects of the medicine
• After other, safer nonmedication possibilities have not helped treat the problem
People cohabitating with Alzheimer's and their caregivers must closely observe for side effects of these medications.
Sleep aids are utilized to help people get to sleep and stay asleep. People with Alzheimer's should NOT take these drugs frequently because they make the person more confused and more likely to fall. However, there are lifestyle modifications people can make to enhance their sleep.
Anti-anxiety drugs are employed to treat agitation. However, these drugs can cause sleepiness, dizziness, falls, and confusion. Therefore, doctors recommend they should only be used for short periods.
Anticonvulsants are drugs sometimes applied to treat severe aggression. Side effects may cause sleepiness, mood swings, dizziness, and confusion.
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