Dear all, Thank you to everyone who shared my post about DEMENTIA AWARENESS MONTH, which is happening now! To follow on from my original post, I thought I would add some more information about the top four most common types of dementia. These are Alzheimers Disease, Vascular Dementia, Fronto-Temporal Lobar Degeneration, and Lewy Body Dementia. Ill briefly talk about Alzheimers Disease today. However, I will say that all dementias and how they work are still very poorly understood. What we do know is that Alzheimers Disease is the most common form of dementia, and it accounts for approximately 50 to 70% of all diagnoses. The classic short-term memory loss is a key symptom of this disease, particularly in the early stages. However, as with all dementias, Alzheimers Disease is progressive - meaning that it continues to worsen over time, and there is no cure. What happens, is that a sticky protein called Beta Amyloid forms PLAQUES outside the neurons synapses (the small gap between neurons where signals pass through). This means that signals are not able to pass through the neurons, and the cells die. In addition,another protein called Tau builds up into TANGLES inside the neurons, which also means that nutrients and other essential supplies can no longer move through the cells, which also leads to cell death. Ive included a great video to help you understand what happens IN the brain that leads to these changes: https://youtube/watch?v=wzkQyWpu10E&noredirect=1 Neurons are the building blocks of our brain. With all this cell death, the volume of the brain shrinks. And as you know, our brain is SO important - it controls everything we do! As you can imagine, as the persons neurons die, all aspects of that persons life is affected. Everyones journey with is different - peoples symptoms and the time it takes for the disease to progress vary. What we KNOW though, is that the person is still in there - their emotions and feelings remain, and time and time again we are shown that people with any type of dementia still need love, understanding, and support. If you are interested in learning more, here is an interactive tour of the brain and Alzheimers Disease in VARIOUS LANGUAGES: alz.org/alzheimers_disease_4719.asp If you are interested in how you can understand and behave if you meet a person with dementia, please see: alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=84 PLEASE SHARE AND SPREAD THE KNOWLEDGE! Thank you! :)
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 23:38:17 +0000
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