Healthy Living

Dementia is a hot topic and with an aging population it is not surprising that Alzheimer’s disease takes center stage when age related conditions are discussed. If you Watched a person with Alzheimer’s, you will see a gradual decay in their ability to remember especially with 10 percent of the population over 65 year’s old suffering from the disorder.

It is a complex disease that is not yet fully understood. Studies show that your greatest risk of acquiring Alzheimer’s is advancing age. The problem of early diagnosis is often down to the sufferer, who refuses to admit that anything is wrong even when they start to experience some of the symptoms.

At the moment all forms of dementia treatment are pretty much the same and that includes Alzheimer’s disease. Despite the studies, there is no permanent treatment for the condition but there are a number of drugs which can help with the condition. They can improve the cognitive skills of Alzheimer’s disease sufferers by up to six months.

A new drug Memantine is proving to be effective in slowing down the mental deterioration seen in patients in the later stages of the disease. With more than four fifths of Memantine excreted through the kidneys, the side effects are low but it is the first drug to show a distinct effect on moderate to severe dfferers.

This is due to an increase in the life expectancy of the populations in the industrialized world. The cost of providing care and treating patients is already costing 40 billion dollars every year with this figure expected to increase. Global testing into various treatments are currently being investigated.

One way to help lower the risk of dementia and one that you can have responsibility for is to change how you live by eating healthily and taking regular exercise. Some researchers into the disease have found that patients who are happy and healthy with Alzheimer’s, slow down the rate of their mental decline. At the moment, the disease is still primarily effecting the elderly but there have been incidences of people contracting it before the age of 60.