Alzheimer's disease
What is Alzheimer's Disease?
A Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, in which there is loss of some neurons related to cognitive functions, which can lead to various symptoms, such as disorders of recent memory, with difficulty retaining new information, planning difficulty, plus inability (patient unlearns) to perform specific tasks, which he previously performed without any mental effort.
The impairment of cognitive functions, in at least two domains, we call insanity. A insanity it is not a specific disease but a set of symptoms characterized by dysfunction of areas such as memory, planning and/or language, leading to limitations in social skills to the point of interfering with daily functioning.
In addition to cognitive deficits, it often leads to other symptoms as the disease progresses, such as behavior change, sleep disorders and eating disorder, so understanding the evolution of the disease is very important for the treatment to be as effective as possible.
But not all forgetting is Alzheimer's.
Associated causes such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders, attention deficit, contribute to memory lapses and should be investigated and treated properly when indicated.
What are the symptoms of Alzheimer's?
The cognitive symptoms da Alzheimer's disease, usually include two or more of the following domains:
Memory: Difficulty acquiring new information or evoking recent topics, with symptoms that include repetition of the same subjects, repeated questions about a question, forgetting events, appointments or the place where they kept your belongings.
Executive functions: impairment of reasoning, carrying out complex tasks and judgment, with symptoms such as poor understanding of risk situations, reduced ability to manage finances, make decisions and plan complex or sequential activities.
Language: Change na comprehension, expression, reading or writing. It includes symptoms such as difficulty finding and/or understanding words, errors in speaking and writing, with word or phoneme changes, which cannot be explained by other congenital or acquired problems.
Visuospatial skills: Symptoms that include inability to recognize common faces or objects, find objects in the visual field, not explained by previous visual impairment.
Praxis:O patient unlearns specific tasks, which he previously performed without any mental effort. Activities such as dressing, eating, and even walking can become much more difficult.
Personality or behavior: Symptoms that include mood swings, emotional lability, agitation, apathy, disinterest, social isolation, loss of empathy, lack of inhibition, obsessive, compulsive, aggressive or socially unacceptable behaviors.
It's common too persistent complaints, which are unrelated to reality, such as being easily upset by a family member, unexplained pain, strange taste of foods that were already part of the patient's diet.
Alzheimer's disease is hereditary?
Alzheimer's disease has a genetic character. So those who have it in the family have a greater chance of having the disease than people who don't have anyone in the family with the disease. However, this is a chance, not mandatory. And in general the chance is still small.
There are, however, some hereditary causes of Alzheimer's, that is, that pass from father to son e with a great possibility of being transmitted to family members over generations, but they are much rarer and may have some peculiarities in the diagnosis.
How is a Alzheimer's Disease diagnosed?
The diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease is made primarily through the clinical evaluation by the neurologist, including cognitive tests, which are fundamental for diagnosing AD and for differentiating it from other less common types of dementia, such as Lewy Body Dementia, vascular dementia, mixed dementia, among others.
The complementary exams, such as blood tests, imaging tests (magnetic resonance imaging or cranial tomography), are useful at first to rule out treatable causes of dementia, such as infections, (severe) lack of vitamins and chronic structural lesions (such as small bruises formed a long time ago), but not necessarily for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease itself.