Alzheimer’s disease is a slowly progressive, degenerative brain disorder that results in abnormal brain function and death. Dr. Alois Alzheimer described the disease in the neurological autopsy on the brain of a 56-year-old woman who died several years after a progressive mental deterioration marked by increasing confusion and memory loss. He noticed an odd disorganization of the nerve cells in her cerebral cortex. The cells were bunched up like a rope tied in knots. He named the strange nerve bundles neurofibrillary tangles. He also noted an unexpected accumulation of cellular debris around the affected nerves.
Alzheimer’s disease is a disorder marked by a gradual decline in brain function that gets worse with time. It was assumed that this change was a normal part of aging that was once called senility. The condition can develop as young as 40, but the disease is most common in people over the age of 65. Alzheimer’s di
Treatments for Alzheimer’s disease have been in wide demand in the last 50 years. With women being at a greater risk for contacting Alzheimer’s disease, the use of estrogen after menopause has lowered the risk. Estrogen boosts the production of acetylcholine, an essential chemical neurotransmitter involved in the transmission of nerve impulses across the tiny gaps between synapses. In addition, estrogen improves blood flow through the brain and enhances verbal abilities of postmenopausal women who take hormone replacement therapy.
A lot is unknown about the brain disease that effects so many. As more is revealed about Alzheimer’s disease, more will be known about how it is contracted and how to know if one has the disease. Until then Alzheimer’s disease will remain one of the most researched and looked at diseases in the world today.
As Alzheimer’s disease progresses, these losses will result in total dependency for the simplest activitie