Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia (loss of intellectual and social abilities severe enough to interfere with daily functioning). A person with AD experiences progressively increasing impairment of memory, thinking, reasoning, and language. Personality changes can also occur. AD can be inherited, but most cases are not related to inheritance. What [...]

You can’t really contrast the two in that way. Alzheimer’s obviously is a disease, whereas dementia is more a collection of symptoms. The conditions we call dementias are those in which the patient has problems with memory, as well as impaired thinking, comprehension, reasoning, speech and behavior. This decline in mental function can make aspects [...]

At what age do the symptoms (of Alzheimer’s disease) start? Is there some type of test a doctor can do to see if a person has this disease? I have a family history of Alzheimer’s (1 aunt, 1 uncle, 2 great-aunts). I am almost 49 years old and find myself getting very confused at times, [...]

My 91-year-old invalid mother suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. I care for her at home. Her physician is unresponsive, and I am desperate for some answers. Her dementia has increased, and her cycle times of rest between episodes has decreased. She will babble incoherently for 12 to 24 hours and suffers from sleep deprivation. Is there [...]

Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s Disease is challenging, just as is caring for any ill person, because the disease not only affects the person physically, but mentally. Often, in the early stages of the disease, a spouse or other family member will provide the daily care for a person with Alzheimer’s. However, as the disease [...]

An estimated 4 million Americans currently have Alzheimer’s disease, but the illness touches many more lives when you count the number of family members and others who care for those with the disease. While caregivers help their spouse, parent or other loved one live a life with Alzheimer’s, they also have to take care of [...]

You probably know that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a very complicated neurodegenerative disease that involves memory loss, which is usually its most common symptom. Unfortunately, AD can cause many other symptoms, too. Memory fades, speech falters, problem-solving skills decline, and other behavioral problems become increasingly serious: Social isolation is the outcome. People with Alzheimer’s need [...]

It was a 5-year-old boy’s question that convinced social worker Elizabeth Smith-Boivin that kids need special help dealing with Alzheimer’s. The boy’s mother visited the 36-bed adult center that Smith-Boivin runs in Saratoga, New York. The woman needed a place that would care for her mother, who had Alzheimer’s. But she told Smith-Boivin, now a [...]

Your mom has mild Alzheimer’s disease, but she still wants to drive to the grocery store. Should you let her? According to one group of researchers, you may as well, because statistically, she’s no more likely to have an accident than other seniors her age. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, concluded in [...]

Today, there are an increasing number of options to consider when selecting a residential care facility for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. Assisted living facilities are becoming the preferred choice for many families. A residence that provides care that is “dementia-capable” is skilled in working with people with dementia and their caregivers, [...]

Unfortunately, there is no medical treatment currently available to cure Alzheimer’s Disease, or stop its progression. The two drugs used to temporarily relieve symptoms for people in the early and middle stages of the disease are donepezil and tacrine, both FDA-approved. There are also some drugs that are used to help control behavioral symptoms associated [...]

There is no comprehensive clinical test used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. The only way doctors can be 100% certain of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis is to examine brain tissue and determine if it shows the abnormalities characteristic of the disease, which is usually done through an autopsy. However, through a series of physical, neurological and psychological [...]