Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease

HCA/240

August 4, 2012

Have you ever heard of Alzheimer’s disease ? Well I know I have heard of Alzheimer’s disease. This disease is very common in what we would call today our baby boomers within the United States. Alzheimer’s disease was discovered in 1907 by a scientist named Alois Alzheimer. However, when the disease was discovered it wasn’t a major concern until about 1970. The very first case that brought about the discovery of Alzheimer’s disease was when a woman in her late fifties began having problems with her cognitive skills, things like memory loss, language problems and she couldn’t interact with others. This woman became very ill and she later on died. So, after this woman’s death, Alzheimer’s decided to perform an autopsy on her brain. He used a silver staining technique that gave him the opportunity to visualize the presence of the neurons. During the process he found some very strange formations, in which are now known as senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Alzheimer’s formed a hypothesis about the lesions in which they might be the cause or effect of the so called Alzheimer’s disease or even a combination of the two. The disease later on got the official name Alzheimer as more and more began to have the symptoms that were associated with Alois Alzheimer’s discovery. After Alois Alzheimer’s got some other scientist involved, and completed neurological research with the creation of the Alzheimer’s Association in 1985, Alzheimer’s disease gradually got accepted as a disorder ( Reger, 1).

Moreover, you may have a grandmother, grandfather or another older person in the family who has those episodes where they can’t remember your name or even your face or may not even be able to talk or speak coherently. These relatives maybe suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a disease that causes brain changes that will eventually get worse. Alzheimer’s disease is one of the main causes of...