Alzheimer's Disease - 'The Living Death'

Alzheimer's disease or the 'living death' was namedabnormalities, is much more common in older patients
after Dr Alois Alzheimer who discovered it in 1907,than on the young.
when he described the amazing effects the diseaseThis initial confusion has complicated matters
had on the brain of a 51 year old woman who hadenormously because now the whole group of
apparently died of dementia.conditions are all known as Alzheimer's disease.
When examined under a microscope, her brainThe Royal College of Physicians describes Alzheimer's
showed changes that had never been seen before.disease as follows ... "Dementia is the global
While in some parts there was a clumping of brainimpairment of higher functions, including memory, the
matter in other parts it was tangled together.capacity to solve the problems of day to day living,
When his research discovered the same twisting andthe performance of learned perceptuo-motor skills
deformations in other patients who died of similar(our learned responses such as washing, dressing and
causes the condition carried his name and becameeating), the correct use of social skills, and the control
known as Alzheimer's disease.of emotional reactions in the absence of gross
However, his research coincidentally concentrated onclouding of consciousness."
younger patients so at first this produced a falseThis definition can't possibly convey the complex
impression that Alzeimer's disease only affected thesymptoms and distress that characterise this
young, with older sufferers being falsely diagnosedcondition.
with pre-senile dementia or senile dementia of theThose who personally know and love someone who
Alzheimer type (SDAT).suffers from it describe the gradual loss of memory,
Now we know that the reverse is actually true andimpaired judgement and changes in behaviour and
that Alzheimer's, with its distinctive braintemperament as 'a living death'.