During November, National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness month aims at making the general public more aware of the disease and the scale of it among the U.S. population, as well as bring new light potential care options for those affected.
Here are three interesting facts about Alzheimers:
- Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other cognitive abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases.
- Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging. The greatest known risk factor is increasing age, and the majority of people with Alzheimer’s are 65 and older. But Alzheimer’s is not just a disease of old age. Approximately 200,000 Americans under the age of 65 have younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease (also known as early-onset Alzheimer’s).
- Alzheimer’s has no current cure, but treatments for symptoms are available and research continues. Although current Alzheimer’s treatments cannot stop Alzheimer’s from progressing, they can temporarily slow the worsening of dementia symptoms and improve quality of life for those with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers. Today, there is a worldwide effort under way to find better ways to treat the disease, delay its onset, and prevent it from developing.
Early stages of this disease include:
- Getting lost in familiar places.
- Having trouble handling money and paying bills.
- Repeating questions.
- Taking longer to complete normal daily tasks.
- Displaying poor judgment.
- Losing things or misplacing them in odd places.
- Displaying mood and personality changes
Conscious Caregiving: December 7 at 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
During the holiday season, many people are visiting older relatives and friends and notice changes. Grandma missed some steps in her Thanksgiving turkey recipe that she has been making for the last 30 years. Or a brother repeatedly forgot recently shared information, like the news that someone passed away or is having a baby. What do these changes mean?