What you need to know about Alzheimer

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. The term for dementia is used to describe a group of brain disorders, which break down tissues and nerve cells. 

How it affects the brain
Alzheimer’s involves parts of the brain that controls thought, memory, and language. There’s a chemical in your brain called acetylcholine. This chemical is lost in your brain when you have Alzheimer’s disease. The cause is not yet known, they believe age is the main factor or genetics.

There are more than 4.3 million people in the United States that has Alzheimer’s disease. The disease mostly affects the older generation between 65 or older. You can develop the disease at a younger age but it’s very rare. 

How you feel 
One of the real struggles that you have to face is the person’s shift of behaviors. The behaviors are caused by Alzheimer’s disease and its symptoms that develop down the road. 

As Alzheimer’s patient, they don’t understand what’s happening to them. It’s like their life changes in front of their eyes. At one time, the person was able to find their car keys and now it is difficult to recall where they put the keys. The person may notice they are having a hard time with daily tasks like remembering to use the bathroom, or their address, even names of their children. It’s very frightening for one that doesn’t know what’s going on, so they get aggressive, and start yelling or even hitting ones that are very close to them. 

Finding Hope
We don’t have a cure for the disease, but there is treatment to slow down the symptoms from developing to dementia. The medications will help the Alzheimer’s patient maintain over all function, and it could help with memory and slow behavior problem. 

What you can do to help
You as a caregiver or even as a family member may want to try these things. Remember always to stay calm and don’t argue back. Helping them to stay focus is useful. The less noise and distractions will help the person to focus better. Try to avoid crowding, like going to the mall or to a family get together. Although a family get together could help them to remember names, they may lose in time. 

How to help patients with Alzheimer sleep
Sleeping is a big problem with Alzheimer’s disease as well. So if they have problems sleeping you may want to help them with relaxing. Exercises on a daily routine, this may help them to relax, as well as slow the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Keep light in the room down. Maybe some soft music will help the patient to relax and to calm down as well. 
You may also want to keep a routine bedtime schedule this will help them keep the Alzheimer’s patient on a schedule.

How to assist with eating
Alzheimer’s disease will gradually develop symptoms that make the person feel hopeless. The illness, once it makes the person feel helpless may cause the person to stop eating, talking, etc. To help the patient feel a need to eat, you may need to seek professional support. Sometimes the patient may need I.V. feeding. 

A friendly word for care providers of Alzheimer’s patients
Caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease often feel stress and worn down after taking care of the patient for a length of time. The best thing you can do is realize that help is available. Hope is also available to you, since you can set up a hotline for yourself to maintain your well-being both mentally and physically.