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NEUROLOGICAL  CONDITIONS

Alzheimer's Disease

  • Alzheimer's disease is a progressiveneurodegenerative disease resulting in decline in cognitive functions together with declining activities of daily living (ADL) and behavioural disturbances.

  • It is the most common cause of cognitive impairment in elderly persons. From the age of 60 onwards up to 80 years, incidence and prevalence of AD icreases exponentially with age, doubling every 5 years.

Causes

  • Ageing

  • Family history of Alzheimer's disease

  • Reduced reserve capacity of brain

  1. Low educational and occupational attainment

  2. Low mental ability in early life

  3. Reduced mental and physical activity during late life

  • Diet

  1. Reduced consumption of fish

  2. Increased consuption of dietary fat

  • Head injury

  • Risk factors associated with vascular disease

  1. Hypercholesterolaemia

  2. Hypertension

  3. Smoking

  4. Obesity

  5. Diabetes

Symptoms

  • It is an insidious-onset disease.

  • There is a gradual decline in ADL that ultimately leads to profound disability and dependance on others.

  • The patient has disturbances of memory, language and visual skills:

  1. There is an impaired ability to learn new things and recall previously learnt information. An inability to retain recently acquired information is typically the initial sypmtom, whereas memory for remote events is relatively spared until late. Episodic memory impairment (memory for personally experienced events in a particular temporal and spatial context) is an important cognitive deficit. This can be tested by the three words recall item and the orientation items of the MMSE.

  2. Impairment of semantic memory (knowledge of public events, words and of the associations between concepts), working memory (ability to manipulate short-term memory representations) and executive functions (coordination of multiple cognitive processes) are often present.

  3. A decline in language function and increased difficulty with names and understanding what is being said (nominal and comprehensive dysphasia).

  4. An impaired ability to carry out motor activities despite intact motor function (dyspraxia).

  5. Failure to recognise or identify objects despite intact sensory function (agnosia).

  • Other features include behavioural problems, psychotic symptoms and depression. Psychotic symptoms are not the presenting features but develop later during the course of disease. Occurence of psychosis during the initial stages of dementia suggests othe diagnoses such as deentia with Lewy bodies. Persecutory delusions occur in nearly 50% of the patients.

  • It is important to differentiate between Alzheimer's disease and other treatable causes of dementia.

Treatments

  • Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive degenerative disease which can be treated in Homoeopathy with good results. Homeopathy works deeply on the degenerative tendency and parts of the body and cures it. The symptoms gets better slowly and further progress is prevented. The patient is able to live an independent and quality life with Homoeopathy. 

Few homeopathy medicines which help in such cases are nux moschata, ignatia amara, mercurius etc 

  • Optimal visual and auditory aids or dental problems should also be corrected time to time in such patients. 

  • Education of caregivers is very important in Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer's Disease
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