North Indian winters are always very cold and freezing. It was one such cold winter morning in New Delhi. Our hands were trembling in holding the morning coffee cup and sipping the early morning coffee. My wife had prepared the delicious Indian sunrise coffee and gave us to activate our nervous system for the day. She went to give the cup of coffee for her aged mother in her room and to her utter surprise, the bed was empty. We searched the entire house! She would not have left the house in anger since we were taking care of her after she had a brain stroke few months after she lost her husband. Since the apartments was near the Delhi-Chandigarh highway, me and my daughter searched near the highway and couldn’t find her. My wife searched all the way around the entire apartments. After a long search and to our surprise, my wife found her mother found sleeping in the apartments car parking area at the basement near the cement bags. Her face and body were brushed with cement powder and no-one of us knew at what time she had unlocked our home and went to the apartments car parking area at the basement. Yes, we started realizing the age-related disease has invaded her.
Many further events confirmed the invasion. She drastically fell down hitting her head, asking about the whereabouts of her passed away husband at home, she being a strict vegetarian, once took our neighbor’s shared non-vegetarian food kept in the dining table, scolding her daughter, plucking the lollipops from the hands of small children, hiding my mobile phone under the pillow and many more. The symptoms and the medical tests confirmed the disease. This disease has no cure as on date. We started treating her like a child, as she behaved like a child more often. Sometimes, she was controlled only by her grandchildren. Her grandchildren helped her to take bath, feed her food. She was taken good care until one Saturday morning, she asked a glass of water and when her daughter came back with a glass of water, she was so thirsty that she went to get water to quench her thirst from the creator itself!
The disease that took her away was Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. Brain cell connections and the cells themselves degenerate and die, eventually destroying memory and other important mental functions. Memory loss and confusion are the main symptoms. No cure exists, but medication may temporarily improve symptoms.
Early Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease
- Memory loss that affects daily life.
- Loss of problem-solving ability.
- Confusion about times and places.
- Limitations with language.
- Misplacing things.
- Poor judgement.
- Personality changes.
Facts
People live for an average of 8 years after their symptoms appear. Many people with Alzheimer’s disease have a tendency to sleep a lot during the day, even when they have had a full night’s sleep. More evidence is that Alzheimer’s disease may be inherited from one’s Mother. Alzheimer’s disease is almost twice as common in women compared to men.
So far, research has linked the disease with:
- Age.
- Gender. Women get the disease more often than men.
- Family history. People who have a parent or sibling with Alzheimer’s are more likely to get it themselves.
- Head injury.
Diagnosis
A standard medical workup for Alzheimer’s disease often includes structural imaging with magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] or computed tomography [CT].
The disease is named after the German psychiatrist and pathologist Dr. Alois Alzheimer. In 1906, Dr. Alzheimer noticed changes in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of an unusual mental illness. Her symptoms included memory loss, language problems, and unpredictable behavior. After she died, he examined her brain and found many abnormal clumps.
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Before the early 2000s, the only sure way to know whether a person had Alzheimer’s disease was through autopsy, a procedure that is performed after death. Today imaging tests helps to see biological signs of the disease. Blood test to measure levels of beta-amyloid, a protein that accumulates abnormally in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s can help.
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Alzheimer’s disease does not affect all memory capacities equally. Older memories of the person’s life, facts learned and the memory of the body on how to do things, eat and drink are affected to a lesser degree than new facts or memories. The disease progress from early, middle and to the last stage.
Proteins fail to function normally leading to cell death and later brain shrinkage. Alzheimer’s disease is believed to occur when abnormal amounts of amyloid beta [Aβ], accumulates extracellularly in the brain.
Taking care of Alzheimer’s disease patients
It is unsafe to leave them alone for even short periods of time at the final stages of the disease. Here comes the role of the care giver, often taken by the close relative/s. Home care is usually the best option for the people with Alzheimer’s disease. Brain exercises are good. It can remove the monotonous pattern of life. Playing chess, riddles, doing non routine activities of life can be useful to remove the autopilot mode of the brain, will help them a lot!.
Saddest part is that this disease is not diagnosed / identified by the family members. They start treating these individuals very badly and they don’t understand the conditions they are undergoing.
Alzheimer’s disease is known for giving a great burden on caregivers on financial, emotional and social grounds. As there is an age old saying, when you do it today, you will get back the same tomorrow. Parents / elders took care of us when we were child and it is the blessing and opportunity for us to take care of them as child. They should be allowed to pass on this earth gracefully.
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What you give is what you get from the world!! The cycle of life always comes full.
This blog is dedicated to my mother-in-law and other numerous men and women of this world, who have suffered and who are suffering from this Alzheimer’s disease. Sincerely hope, one-day medical fraternity will find a permanent cure to this disease.
Note-The images given for representation in this blog are taken from Google Images. Many thanks for Google.
Nice one !!
Thank you Rohit Jagat Singh!
Nice one
Thank you Kusum!
Well written
Thank you Rafeeka!