Every year, September 21 worldwide celebrates International Alzheimer's Day ( World Alzheimer's Day ), or World Alzheimer's Day. It was established in 1994 at the initiative of organizations involved in researching this disease and finding ways to slow its development.
And since 2012, not only one day, but all of September is considered the World Month of Alzheimer's. All organizations involved in the fight against this terrible and incurable disease seek to draw attention as much as possible to people who have become its victims. The purpose of the — information campaigns is to inform the population as much as possible about the course of the disease, treatment and patient care.
Alzheimer's disease ( alzheimer's senile dementia ) – neurodegenerative disease, first described in 1906 by German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer. As a rule, it is found in people over 65 years old, but there is also an early Alzheimer's disease ( a rare form ).
There are about 55 million people with senile dementia in the world today. According to experts, this figure will grow steadily and by 2050 will reach 139 million people. According to Alzheimer’s Disease International ( ADI ), the leading international volunteer organization in the field of care and support for people with Alzheimer's disease, a new case of dementia is diagnosed every three seconds in the world.
Even the doctors of Ancient Greece noted the connection between old age and weakening of reason, but only at the beginning of the 20th century did the German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer describe the disease, later named after him. He published an analysis of the disease of a fifty-year-old patient in 1906 after her death. Then a few more similar descriptions appeared in the medical literature. Alzheimer's disease was soon recognized as an independent disease.
Dementia – is a progressive or chronic syndrome in which degradation and destruction of the ability to think ( that is, the cognitive function ) occurs more than occurs during the normal course of the aging process. With dementia, memory, thinking, understanding, speech and the ability to navigate, count, learn and reason decrease.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia – it accounts for 60-70 percent of all cases of dementia development. Dementia affects people in all countries. The study of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, is very relevant, as the world's population is aging rapidly.
Alzheimer's disease affects people outside of direct connection with their education and standard of living. Among the famous people who suffered from this disease, – Pope John Paul II, 40th US President Ronald Reagan, British Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher, Spanish Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez, writers Iris Murdoch and Terry Pratchett, actors Peter Falk and Annie Girardo and many others.
It is worth noting that so far, despite periodic sensational statements, no means has been found to combat this disease. With the help of medicine, you can only partially adjust the condition of a person suffering from Alzheimer's disease, smooth out symptoms and slow down the progression of the disease.
The big problem is that relatives at first do not pay attention to some oddities in the behavior of an elderly person, considering it a manifestation of the character of a person, or simply old age. And when changes in behavior and character become dangerous for loved ones and the patient himself, relatives turn to doctors, but in most cases it is already late. And sometimes unscrupulous healers profit from such a situation, claiming that they can cure this incurable disease.
Alzheimer's disease places a heavy burden on the family and loved ones of the patient. If you have a suspicion that someone close to this disease – study the information, contact specialists, conduct the necessary research and be sure to begin early correction. Be sure to take care of your health status – it will take a lot, since caring for patients with this ailment is fraught with great moral, emotional, physical and material costs.
Article « Stariks with a youth diagnosis »
Story « In the shadow of the sunset of the mind »