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When we look at James’s situation, what strikes many people is his age. Alzheimer’s Disease is usually something that strikes people who are older. By age 65, the risk for developing Alzheimer’s Disease is about 5%. It’s relatively rare to see Alzheimer’s Disease in someone in their 50’s and especially in their 40’s but it does occur. And when it occurs, we often see a very strong family history.
We put people on programs that involved several areas of their lives and we find that in just two weeks, we can see a significant impact not only on memory performance course but also on brain function where the brain becomes more efficient. So a simple program might include just walking ten minutes a day to get some cardiovascular conditioning, to do some simple memory exercises, to learn to focus attention better, to develop mental images or visual imagery to help you remember things better. And then some relaxation exercises, some deep breathing exercises, yoga or tai chi to further help people get more mindful about the presence so they can be more focused and retain information better.
Alzheimer’s is tricky to recognize early on because it looks just normal aging. As we get older, we tend to misplace things, we forget people’s names and that is not Alzheimer’s. it’s Alzheimer’s when it becomes more frequent, when it interferes with everyday life, when you become concerned about it. If they go see the doctor and they get on treatment early, the study show that you actually have a better outcome if you start treating early on.
James had a lot of help from his partner and that definitely makes a difference. If you have a caregiver, a loved one who understands the nature of the disease that is progressive that things will change overtime, they’re willing to hang in there, that makes a world of difference. Socially connected people do better than people who are isolated and that is especially true for someone who has Alzheimer’s.
Right now, we have no cure of Alzheimer’s Disease. The medicines are symptomatic, they’ll cause some temporary improvement and keep people at higher levels of functioning but eventually the disease gets worse. However, it’s a very exciting time as far as research goes and there are many scientists and companies developing new medicines that we hope will prevent or delay the onset of the disease and even halt it.
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