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Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia. Dementia is caused by destruction
of brain tissue. Alzheimer's Disease (AD) has an insidious onset and symptoms are progressive. It is not a part of normal aging, it is a disease. This usually affects older adults over 65 years old. An estimated 4.5 million Americans have AD. Since Americans are living longer lives, more people will have Alzheimer's. I chose AD as my topic because I believe most of us will be affected by the disease at some time in our lives either personally or professionally. This disease slowly robs people of their memories, relationships, and eventually their lives.
AD destroys proteins of nerve cells of the cerebral cortex by diffuse infiltration with nonfunctional tissue called neurofibrillary tangles and plaques. The tangles and plaques
represent the death of nerve cells throughout the brain (Ebersole, Hess, Touhy, Jett, 2005). Neurofibrillary tangles are seen in the cytoplasm of abnormal neurons in those areas of the brain (hippocampus, cerebral cortex) most affected by AD. In the cerebral cortex they are found in those areas of the brain associated with cognition, learning, sleep and memory (Lewis, Heitkemper, Dirksen, 2004). AD is characterized by memory and cognitive impairment, language problems, changes in personality, and decreased ability to perform daily activities.
There is a genetic link to AD. Amyloid-beta protein overproduction is thought to be a risk factor. There is a higher risk of getting the disease if a parent, or sibling has the disease. Risk factors include age, female gender, serious head injury, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia.
The course of AD ranges from 1 to 15 years. It is a progressive disease that usually
starts with memory loss. Alzheimer's progresses slowly with additional cognitive impairments as the disease evolves. The nursing goals for patients with AD are to have them...