Home Care for Alzheimer’s in Laguna Woods
Alzheimer’s disease is an illness that affects millions of people around the world. In the U.S alone, an estimated 5.5 million people have Alzheimer’s disease. As common as this neurodegenerative disease is, there are a lot of myths about it that many people believe. Let’s take a look at some of these common myths about Alzheimer’s disease.
1. Alzheimer’s disease is a part of normal aging
There are many people who believe that symptoms of Alzheimer’s are a normal part of aging. It is important to distinguish between effects of normal aging and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. While memory loss to some degree is a part of aging, being forgetful to the point where it hinders the daily causing disorientation, should not be mistaken for life are legitimate symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and should not be mistaken for normal aging. As the brain degenerates further, the affected individuals lose their ability to talk, eat and think. But with that said, Alzheimer’s disease is not an inevitable part of aging.
2. You can’t have Alzheimer’s disease if you can remember things from the distant past
If an individual remembers all sorts of things from the past, by no means does that indicate that they don’t have Alzheimer’s disease because the recent or freshly learned memories are the first to fade away in Alzheimer’s disease. As the disease progresses and reaches the middle stage, the long held memories start to go to. The affected individuals can often able to retain their fundamental social skills if they are in the early stage of the disease. So don’t eliminate the possibility of Alzheimer’s disease just because the individual may seem to be interacting fine and remembering things for now
3. Only old people are vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease
Most of the individuals with Alzheimer’s disease are 65 years old or older but not all. As a matter of fact, 5% of the affected individuals start experiencing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease much earlier. Since most affected individuals experience symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease a little later on in their life, doctors often don’t consider the possibility of Alzheimer’s disease in middle aged patients. This is one of the reasons this disease can go by undiagnosed for years. Genetic predisposition has a significant causal role in the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
4. You can’t die of Alzheimer’s disease
Statistics say otherwise. Most of the people with Alzheimer’s disease live around 8 to 10 years after their diagnosis. There can be various reasons for this. Primarily, since patients of Alzheimer’s tend to forget to eat and drink, they can soon develop nutrient deficiencies. Additionally, they can also develop breathing problems that can progress to pneumonia. Furthermore, patients with Alzheimer’s disease can end up in dangerous and potentially life threatening situations as a result of memory loss, which is yet another lethal sidebar of this perilous disease.
Sources*
https://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/features/5-alzheimers-disease-myths#1
https://www.dementiatoday.com/7-myths-about-alzheimers-disease/?doing_wp_cron=1516606508.9883239269256591796875
https://www.nextavenue.org/8-common-myths-alzheimers/
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