Alzheimer's: aggressive and disabling

• April 26, 2024

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost 20 million of people on the planet are sick with Alzheimer's.

In Mexico, around 500 thousand people are affected, although this figure could triple by the year 2050, if we consider the increase in life expectancy in addition, that one in four Mexicans will be 65 years old and prone to the disease.

According to information from the Mexican Institute of Social Security, Alzheimer's is a progressive and degenerative disease of the brain for which there is no recovery; It attacks nerve cells in all parts of the cerebral cortex, as well as some surrounding structures, impairing the person's ability to control emotions, recognize errors and patterns, coordinate movement and remember.

It is the most common dementia and the most aggressive of neurological diseases, because it totally incapacitates the person who suffers it.

Diagnosis

According to Dr. Humberto Juarez Jimenez, head of the Department of Neurology of the High Specialty Medical Unit of the National Medical Center La Raza, Alzheimer's occurs mostly in women after 65 or 70 years, although the first symptoms can be seen from the 50 years. It is characterized by the decrease of intellectual functions, loss of memory, disorientation in time and space, alterations in sanity and even ignorance of oneself.

symptom

For Dr. Alfredo Flores Ciro, a neurologist and neurophysiologist at the Gabriel Mancera Hospital of the IMSS, this condition causes such an intellectual decline that prevents daily activities and, as the disease progresses, the deterioration causes permanent oblivion of physiological needs such as sleep , eating or going to the bathroom, which results in recurrent infections and other health complications.

The first symptoms may be confused with signs of aging, but we must warn if the patient has forgetfulness, loss of concentration, motor problems, difficulty speaking and walking, confusion and disorientation in time and space, nervousness, if he does not recognize close relatives or He is tired, quiet, depressed, irritable and aggressive. The cause of the disease is unknown; nevertheless, the latest scientific and medical studies estimate that its origin is genetic, due to metabolic disorders or blows to the head.

Alzheimer's can be diagnosed by a neurological study called "minimenta l "which detects the cognitive state of the patient; if required, a brain biopsy (extraction of a fragment of the cerebral cortex) can be applied to determine if the patient has demential disease.

Video Medicine: Ch. 4: Bathing & Dressing (Caregiver College Video Series) (April 2024).