Ever since I was nine years old I have been interested in working with the elderly. I believe my passion started when I helped my mother take care of my grandmother that was dying of breast cancer. One area that always intrigues me is Alzheimer's Disease. It saddens me that people forget who their family members are, forget how to eat, forget how to walk, and even forget how to breathe. Even though this disease is so sad, I find it extremely interesting.
Early symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease are loss of recent memory, spatial disorientation and lessening of emotional responses. In the second stage higher learning functions deteriorate, the ability to read and write are lost, the person becomes confused and doesn't recognize family members. In the third stage the person can experience seizures and are unable to speak.
What I find interesting is what is actually happening in the brain to cause these things to happen to older people. What is believed to cause Alzheimer's Disease is atrophy of the brain. There is a loss of neurons, enlarged cerebral ventricles, neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles form in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, and there is a deficiency of acetylcholine-releasing neurons.
I found a very helpful website that shows in many different aspects how the brain changes that is suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. The link is: http://www.alz.org/braintour/alzheimers_changes.asp
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