Alzheimer’s Disease

Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease

Forgetting what you did last summer is probably something that you can deal with and you will most probably remember at least some of the things that took place. But forgetting everything and even having a strange perspective of reality is something different. This is one of the things that happen to a person who has Alzheimer’s Disease. The disease is a neurodegenerative disorder and is a very common disease that is found in people over the age of 65.

What Is Alzheimer’s Disease

Millions of people worldwide suffer from a form of dementia. The majority of that dementia is actually caused by Alzheimer’s Disease. Medically, the disease can be characterized by a progressive cognitive deterioration. When this happens, one can also expect the steady decline of daily activities and psychiatric, neuropsychiatric, and behavioral changes. When talking about Alzheimer’s with a doctor, you will probably hear the term plaque. This is not the same kind of plaque that can form on teeth. This plaque is the kind that blocks nerve endings and therefore signals cannot pass to and from the brain. This plaque takes years to form and it will not be detected medically until one is much older. But it is not the only thing that causes the Alzheimer’s Disease; there is one other thing known as neurofibrillary tangles and these are pathological protein aggregates found in the neurons of a brain. Together, these two factors are the major cause behind Alzheimer’s Disease.

Symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease

There are different symptoms to look out for depending on the stage of the Alzheimer’s Disease. In the early stages of the degenerative disease, patients will first become less energetic and will be less spontaneous. These changes in behavior are actually unnoticed by patients and those close to them. The term used for this stage in the disease is Minor Cognitive Impairment. The next stage of the disease, or the middle stage, has patients being able to perform certain tasks but not complicated ones. The patient in this stage will probably need assistance with something as simple as paying a bill (which is actually more complicated to someone who has Alzheimer’s Disease). The most severe stage, or the late stage, has patients not being able to perform simple tasks without the help of others. People in the late stage also need to be supervised constantly. These patients tend to lose their understanding and concept of many things. This includes expelling the bladder and even bowel movements. Eventually, they cannot walk anymore and they will not be able to talk properly. Losing the ability to swallow food and fluid is also very common and this is what may ultimately lead to their death.

Can Alzheimer’s Disease be Cured?

There is no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease and the only way to really avoid it is to prevent it from happening. Leading a healthy life with activities that stimulate the brain and a diet that will keep one physically fit will help one to avoid the disease. But even in prevention, these activities and diets will only really slow down the process of the disease’s development. But slowing it down will improve your lifestyle because the worst that can happen is that you only reach either the first or second stage.

Degenerative Nerve Diseases

A degenerative nerve disease is one that affects the nerves in such a way that it damages them to the point that affects the way people think. Depending on the disease, it can even affect a person’s motor skills. Essentially, degenerative nerve diseases affect the brain. Degenerative brain disorder occurs from mid to late adulthood. The results from suffering from this disease usually are in progressive (and irreversible) declines in memory and a steady regression of other abilities, mostly cognitive.

In What Way Does Degenerative Nerve Diseases Affect The Brain?

Degenerative nerve diseases speak for themselves; they degenerate the nerves. This happens as it destroys the nerve cells and the neural connections of the nerves in the cortex of the brain. This leads to a significant loss of brain mass. Thus, it leads to various conditions and diseases that are only now being discovered slowly by the medical community.

What Known Brain Conditions Are There?

There are many different degenerative nerve diseases known to the medical community. The most common one, of course, is Alzheimer’s Disease. This disease actually blocks nerve endings or what are known as senile plaques. This is the most common degenerative nerve disease that is related to dementia and it actually accounts for most dementia cases.

Another disease is called Friedreich’s Ataxia and this one is actually inherited and so it is passed on from one generation to another along one family’s line. It is a disease that causes progressive damage to the nervous system and it results in different symptoms. The symptoms may include gait disturbance, speech problems, and even heart disease.

Another degenerative nerve disease called Canavan Disease is also one of the most common of cerebral degenerative conditions of infancy. It is the most common occurring degenerative disease in children that is linked to genes and what happens is that the white/gray spongy material that makes up the brain matter degenerates in to spongy tissue with tiny specks that are filled with fluid. This is a dangerous disease and death of an infant could occur before he or she turns 4 years old.

Leigh’s Disease is another degenerative nerve disease that affects the central nervous system. Also hereditary, it occurs when different mutations occur in the DNA of mitochondria. This also affects children and can happen between the ages of 3 months and 2 years old. You will know if a child has this disease if he or she has trouble sucking, and has a hard time with motor skills such as turning his or her head. The loss of appetite, continuous crying, vomiting, and sometimes seizures are all other symptoms of this disease.

Can You Catch A Degenerative Nerve Disease?

You may notice that most diseases of this class are all hereditary. But if you do not know the medical history of your family, you will not know what to do to prevent the disease from happening, especially in the case of Alzheimer’s Disease that happens later in life. These diseases cannot be passed on from one person in your bloodline to the next and there are still various studies on how one may be able to avoid its development.

Can It Be Cured?

Bipolar disorder is not a disease but it is more like a mental condition that cannot be cured or gotten rid of completely. However, it can be controlled and maintained since a lot of the condition deals with moods. By controlling the intervals and severity of the mood swings, one can still manage a healthy life mentally and physically. This can only be done under the strict supervision of a specialist, a doctor, or a psychiatrist. The condition is caused by a wide variety of factors that are closely associated to genetics, early environmental, psychological, and social exposure. The disorder is usually rampant in people who are just coming out of adolescence and entering young adulthood.

Can It Be Treated?

As mentioned, bipolar disorder can be controlled up to a certain level and it can be treated to the point that one can actually live a normal life. The treatments may vary from medical, psychological counseling, and at other times both, depending on the severity of the condition. Of course, it is highly advisable that any stage of bipolar disorder be tended to by a psychiatrist or a medical professional. The treatment of the various episodes that sufferers may experience can help in order to prevent the manifestation or the nurturing of further episodes. Through what are known as pharmacological and psychotherapeutic therapies, one will be able to control the episodes easier and more efficiently.

What Happens If It’s Not Treated?

Bipolar disorder is not something that should be avoided. It won’t go away if one doesn’t think of it and it is even more important that if one knows of a person suffering from it, he or she should report it to someone who can help. People who do not undergo any form of treatment for the disorder are capable of many destructive things. Manic episodes can actually land a person into a hospital. Medication and therapy is important for a sufferer of the condition as this can lead to one hurting him or herself; it is so serious a condition that it can even drive one to suicide. This is not an isolated condition and many people have been known to take their own lives by suffering from it.

Contrary to what people think, bipolar disorder is something that can affect anybody. The condition is not something that is reserved for a specific type of people and there are even cases where one may seem fine for a while in life but the condition then starts to develop later on. Mental health is just as important to a person as physical health and with the proper treatment available to combat this condition, a normal and healthy life is definitely possible.

What Is Bipolar Disorder?

The term bipolar disorder is basically the replacement term for the word manic depression. The mental condition is non-curable at the moment and is really a condition that can only be controlled by medicine and healthy therapy. The condition itself is basically a disturbance in moods and people who suffer from this disorder feel many different moods during different times. It is not something that they can control freely. At one point in time, one may feel hyper and energetic; the next moment, they are suffering from episodes of depression and anxiety. This condition is serious because it can also give a person mixed feelings about suicide.

Contrary to what many people believe, many famous people have suffered from this condition. Here are a few of them:

Vincent Van Gogh – The famous artist was known to have suffered depression even though his madness has been largely contested by many scholars. It was his ending that probably shed a little light on his depression because he finally shot himself in the chest as an act of suicide.

Winston Churchill – there are various essays that suggest Winston Churchill had a depressive nature and that he felt unloved and neglected by his parents.

Trent Reznor – A modern, popular music icon in the United States, this musician from the famous band Nine Inch Nails, once admitted to suffering from depression in his life in the late 1990s. In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, he reportedly stated, “It just took me time to sit down and change my head and my life around. I had to slap myself in the face: “If you want to kill yourself, do it, save everybody else the hassle.””

Boris Yeltsin – Once the leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world, this Russian was known to be aggressive, enigmatic, and mysterious. Little did anybody know that he was actually an alcoholic who suffered intermittent depressive episodes that eventually led to various health problems.

Adam Ant – A British musician who is actually open about his suffering from bipolar disorder but only after he had a run in with the law who eventually found out about it.

Ludwig Van Beethoven – It is suggested scientifically that Beethoven was suffering from depression and that a closer scientific inspection of his hair also has given rise to speculation that it was due to lead poisoning.

Jeff Buckley – A famous, young musician who was allegedly diagnosed with bipolar disorder just shortly before his death.

Kurt Cobain – Leader of the famed band Nirvana, his sister Beverly Cobain was a nurse and stated in an interview that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The unfortunate lack of compliance to treatment seems to have led to his demise when he committed suicide in 1994.

How To Spot It

There are two major things that one has to keep in mind about sufferers of bipolar disorder and that is that they are either feeling manic or they are feeling depressed. The frequency of these interchanging episodes should be enough to tell a professional if someone indeed is suffering from manic depression or not. So, to really get to know the episodes, one has to know the symptoms or signs that represent those episodes.

Mania

Mania is basically a feeling that you get that encourages you to feel elevated and irritable. Basically, one who experiences mania also experiences an increase in energy and finds that the need to rest is even less than usual. Speech patterns are also affected because of a sufferer’s thoughts that can only be described as more rapid than usual. Basically, the signs that a person is experiencing mania is as follows: that person feels irritable and angry; he or she thinks and talks so fast that people can hardly catch up or understand; the person has no need for sleep; the person feels either powerful or important; the sufferer has trouble concentrating; he or she starts to spend too much money impulsively; and the abuse of drugs and alcohol may be apparent.

Depression

A depressed state is a condition where the sufferer may feel the exact opposite of mania. In bipolar disorder, depression shows in the persistent feeling of sadness, guilt, and anger. Other feelings of isolation and anxiety are also more apparent. Basically, a person who suffers from depression exhibits the following: no interest in things that used to be enjoyed; sadness or numbness; crying for no apparent reason; feelings of worthlessness; changes in appetite; trouble in decision-making; memory loss; headaches; thoughts about death and suicide; and the feeling of being tired all of the time.

It is the interchanging of these moods in a person that make up the condition manic depression or bipolar disorder, which is what it is now more popularly known as. This can be a very dangerous condition but one which can be treated by a specialist or even the family doctor, granted he or she is trained to address this condition.

The condition is treated medically through the different medicines that address the mood swings and also through therapy and counseling that can help ease the stress and relationship problems that the sufferer may be experiencing. It is not advisable that a person who suffers from it try and get through the condition alone. This is the sort of condition that needs guidance from a doctor or even a support group that can share information on how to deal with the problem.

What It Is

Bipolar disorder was once known as bipolar affective disorder and the term is now used in place of manic-depressive illness. It is only now referred to as the new term to get rid of any stigma that might be created by using the words “manic” and “depression”. Basically, this condition affects people at an early time of life and a lot of the sufferers are young adults. Studies have shown that it happens for a number of reasons that include genetics, environmental, psychological, and even social factors.

Symptoms

The illness itself is cyclical. People who suffer from manic depression display many elevated and depressive episodes almost simultaneously or erratically at the least. People who suffer from these rapid changes will, on average, experience them for about 3 to 6 months for each of the episodes. Most people who suffer from the bipolar disorder are in their late adolescence and early adulthood years and these are critical years because of the many adjustments that they have to make in their social lives.

Phases of Bipolar Disorder

Some of the phases that people with bipolar disorder will go through are the depressive phases, mania, hypomania, and mixed state. In the depressive phase, one will exhibit persistent feelings of sadness, guilt, anger and isolation. That then may be placed with mania, when the same person then starts to feel elevated and even irritable. That can then be replaced yet again with a state that is less severe than mania called hypomania. A mixed state is basically a condition wherein mania and clinical depression happen at the same time and this can be very dangerous for the person who suffers it. These states do not happen in any particular order. Other states include rapid cycling, wherein a person can have three or four different episodes in the span of one year; and cognition, wherein a patient will suffer from different cognitive impairments.

How Is This Disorder Treated?

Bipolar disorder or manic depression is, at the moment, being treated using different medications and therapies. The therapies include regular counseling between a doctor and patient. Most of the medications that are prescribed to patients are referred to as mood stabilizers, a couple of them being lithium and sodium valproate. Some drugs are also antipsychotic, also known as neuroleptics, which are used in the treatment of the manic episodes. There are also antidepressants that are prescribed but there has been no solid result on how these are beneficial to sufferers. Until studies say otherwise, these medications and therapies are the most accepted treatments for people with bipolar disorder.

Medications for Phobias

Depending on your specific phobia, your doctor may recommend certain treatment methods along with one or two of these medicines:

• Anti-anxiety drugs are also sometimes known as sedatives. These medicines are necessary for some phobic individuals because phobia may often be accompanied by anxiety attacks. Sedatives like benzodiazepines can help a person calm down. They should be carefully used though because a person could easily get tempted to rely on sedatives even before panic attacks occur. A person with social phobia for example may take sedatives every time he has to face people even when there is no real anxiety attack.

• Antidepressants are particularly useful when a person who has phobia also suffers from depression. These medicines however have also been found to be effective on easing anxiety. Antidepressants block specific chemicals that have roles in promoting a person’s moods. The most common medicines of this type are monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

• Beta blockers also work well on the symptoms of anxiety attacks experienced by people with phobias. These medicines work by hampering adrenaline which is responsible for generating the symptoms.

• People with phobias may go through periods of interrupted sleep. Sleeping pills may temporarily help them deal with phobia induced insomnia.

Tips When on Medication

Taking medicines for phobias should not be viewed lightly. When taken properly, medicines are a great help but they can also lead to some side effects. They may also be more damaging than therapeutic when abused. Here are some tips when considering or taking medications for phobias:

• Always meticulously interview your doctor before buying prescription medicine. Ask him what exactly it is for and what side effects you should expect. It would help if you read and researched a bit about your prescribed medication so that you can ask your doctor better questions.

• Drugs for phobias usually treat the symptoms that come with anxiety attacks. They don’t really get rid of the irrational fear that you have for something. Ask your doctor for specific phobia techniques that can be effectively paired with drugs.

• Drugs should not be used as quick fixes. You should not rely on them alone in threatening situations. Taking drugs indiscriminately could lead to addiction or worse anxiety conditions. Take drugs only as indicated and consider using pill boxes and calendar notes to help you remember when you should take your medicine.

• If your doctor agrees with you, consider going through methods and techniques for phobia treatment first. Use drugs only as a last resort if treatment techniques alone are not enough.

Behavior Therapy

As the term implies, this form of treatment seeks to change a person’s behavior or reaction towards the feared object or circumstance. When there is a change in behavior, the anxiety felt by a person who has a phobia will also disappear. Modifying a person’s behavior may be accomplished through exposure.

During therapy, a person is gradually and carefully exposed by the therapist to the cause of fear. The rate and degree of exposure is controlled and performed in stages. A person for example may first be shown pictures and then videos of his fear. In time, they may be introduced to the real thing. A person should then be able to eventually realize that there is nothing to fear.

Cognitive Therapy

This treatment encourages an individual to look at his own beliefs about his fears and what these beliefs can do to his quality of life. He will then be assisted into discovering more logical concepts and ideas about the feared situation or object. The expected outcome is that a patient will be able to gain control over his beliefs and perceptions.

Among some therapists, the concepts and procedures of behavior and cognitive therapies are merged. This is to provide better therapeutic results since a person achieves both conceptual and behavioral modification and control.

Counseling

Counseling is not just an avenue for patients to vent their fears and frustrations. The therapeutic goal of counseling can be achieved using a variety of approaches and techniques. A counselor’s approach can be cognitive or behavioral and he can be directive or non-directive. One counseling approach that has been used for the treatment of phobias is the psychoanalytic approach. In this approach, a counselor will help the patient explore various unconscious conflicts that may be the root cause of the existing phobia.

Relaxation

Therapists may teach a person suffering from a phobia how to relax especially during anxiety attacks. A relaxation program may be as simple as teaching individuals how to breathe deeply and properly during a panic attack. Most relaxation programs also include teaching progressive muscle relaxation. In this method, a person is taught how to gradually stress and relax muscles from toes to head.

Relaxation programs can also be more complicated. Your therapist may introduce you to visualization and imagery techniques as well as meditation and yoga.

Not every technique will work for all kinds of phobias. It is very important that you should be able to find qualified therapists and experts who have some experience and success with specific phobia treatment.

Anxiety Attacks

It is normal for all of us to have moments when we feel fear, discomfort, nervousness and uneasiness. This is what we might call experiencing anxiety. We may go through this sensation when confronted with a traumatic event, unfamiliar circumstances or when we simply have to solve a difficult problem. Normally, the anxiety that we go through is the body’s normal way of telling us that danger or a problem is in front of us and we have to do something about it. We either have to flee from it or fight it. Once the problem is resolved, anxiety goes away.

In some people, the sensation of anxiety can be so overblown, overpowering and seemingly uncontrollable. Episodes of these are what are known as anxiety attacks. Those who constantly suffer from it may have developed an anxiety disorder. Some of us though may go through some form of anxiety attack even if we do not have the disorder.

Characteristics

Normal reactions of anxiety are triggered. Anxiety attacks may also be triggered but sometimes they are not. It is also possible that the trigger is not obvious to others or that the trigger does not really merit an extreme panic reaction. In some people, panic attacks can happen without any warning and at any time and location. An anxiety attack episode usually lasts for a few minutes. Sometimes though, a person may eventually enter into a vicious cycle. He may begin to anticipate panic attacks especially in certain situations. Such anticipation may make panic attacks even more certain of happening.

Symptoms

People who go through anxiety attack episodes experience a variety of symptoms. They may become extremely nervous, confused, uneasy and wary. They may also lose their sense of direction and concentration and may have the feeling that they are going insane. There is an overwhelming need to escape.

Physically, a person who has a panic attack will begin to sweat a lot, feel dizzy and have heart palpitations. These sensations may be accompanied by headaches, chest pain, muscle pains, stomach upset and shortness of breath. Individuals who have a severe attack or those who periodically have attacks may additionally suffer from long lasting fatigue and sleeplessness.

Causes

There are no clear exact causes of panic attacks yet. It is believed though that a person has a higher risk of having anxiety attacks if his family has a history of it. The condition can therefore be hereditary but people who do not have family members with the condition may also suffer from it.

Individuals with phobias have also been known to suffer from extreme episodes of anxiety. This is understandable because an irrational fear over something will naturally trigger an overblown response. Phobias and anxiety attacks are thus closely linked.

This phobia is often defined as the fear of open spaces but there is more to it than this definition reveals. People with this phobia are really afraid of open spaces which they deem as potentially dangerous. They are afraid that something bad will happen to them in unfamiliar territory. Agoraphobic people are therefore also afraid of stepping out of places which they see as safe such as their homes or rooms.

Claustrophobia

This is the extreme fear of confined, cramped, enclosed or tight spaces. There is a wide definition of enclosed spaces. For a claustrophobic, it can be as tight as an elevator or a closet or as moderately wide as a room or an airplane. Other tight situations like places with a lot of people and heavy traffic may also scare claustrophobics. A person with this phobia would normally feel trapped with no way to escape.

Arachnophobia

This is the irrational fear of spiders. People with this condition cannot even endure looking at pictures of spiders. This is perhaps one of the most well known phobias. In fact, it is believed to be the top phobia that people suffer from. Incidentally, in popular culture, we are often confronted with the idea that spiders are scary creatures. They are often part of scary movies and are also popular figures in Halloween decorations and costumes.

Necrophobia

This is the fear of the dead, death or anything associated with these concepts. In extreme cases, this is more than just the fear of corpses or your own death. It may also involve being afraid of funerals, funeral parlors, caskets or even stuffed remains in a museum.

Brontophobia

There are different definitions for this phobia but it is commonly seen as a fear of thunder. Thunder however is connected to lighting, storms, rain and dark clouds. People with this phobia may therefore begin to experience anxiety attacks when they see even just the signs that are associated with thunder.

Acrophobia

This is the fear of heights. Of course, it is normal for anyone to feel some fear if they are on top of the tallest building on earth or are about to bungee jump from a high bridge. Those with acrophobia however can’t even endure minimally high positions or areas. Extreme sufferers may be afraid of climbing ladders or going up the floors of a building.

Carcinophobia

This is an illogical fear of getting sick with cancer. It is reasonable to assume that no one would really want to suffer from cancer but those with carcinophobia nurture an extreme fear for the disease. They may not want to encounter people who have the condition. They may also become very particular with their own body signs, interpreting some minor bodily complaint as a symptom of cancer. Some will even go to the extent of meticulously avoiding foods and situations which they think may cause cancer and obsessively ingesting what they think can prevent cancer.