Overview of Alzheimer’s Disease: Symptoms and diagnosis

Alzheimer’s disease, often seen in seniors over the age of 65, is a progressive type of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease impacts a person’s ability to think and memorize, which can impact their daily life. While many people use the term dementia and Alzheimer’s interchangeably, both are not the same. Alzheimer’s is a form of dementia. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease often have a hard time handling the symptoms, and since there is no cure, it is important to manage symptoms with medications. 

Diagnosis 

For Alzheimer’s patients, Neuroquant Brain MRI can be done to identify neurodegeneration in early stages. If you are in Idaho, you can get Neuroquant Brain MRI done at Intermountain Medical Imaging. Doctors may also consider Alzheimer’s Disease as a probability if the patient has some of the classic symptoms. It must be noted that there is no one test for detecting Alzheimer’s disease, and the condition is not preventable either. Besides CT scan or MRI scans, a doctor may suggest neurological function tests, memory tests, and cognitive tests. 

Common symptoms

The most common and key symptom of Alzheimer’s Disease is memory loss. Patients may have trouble remembering recent details and conversations, and often family members notice the signs initially. A patient with early signs of Alzheimer’s Disease may repeat statements, forget basic details of their daily life, can feel lost in familiar circumstances, or can even find it hard to think reasonably. For most patients, Alzheimer’s Disease impacts their ability to think and concentrate. 

Risk factors

There are some risk factors for Alzheimer’s Disease, including age. A patient may witness the first signs with age. There is also evidence that says that family history and genetics may increase the risk of the disease. Some of the other known risk factors include Down syndrome, air pollution, Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), severe head trauma, and excessive alcohol consumption. 

Treatment and cure

As of 2021, there is no precise cure of Alzheimer’s disease. Treatment plans are usually customized to help patients have a better quality of life, besides minimizing the onset of symptoms. 

Final word

Early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease can help a patient in dealing better with symptoms with medications. Note that Alzheimer’s disease is among the neurodegenerative conditions. The death of brain cells with buildup of plaques causes symptoms such as memory loss. If a family member has signs of cognitive and memory issues, consider seeing a doctor for diagnosis at the earliest.