relatively intact. But in the case of Alzheimer’s disease, patients experience a significant lack in their long term memory system. This disease was first identified by a German psychiatrist, Alois Alzheimer in the year 1906.

Alzheimer’s disease is known as one of the leading cause of mental deterioration among the senior citizens. Although it sounds surprising, Alzheimer’s disease is responsible for over 0.1million deaths in the United States every year and is the fourth leading cause of mortality following heart disease, cancer and strokes. The remaining life span is around 8 years after it has been diagnosed.

There are essentially two types of Alzheimer’s disease – sporadic and familial. The symptoms of both of the cases are somewhat similar. The sporadic type does not run into families, whereas the familial type, as its name suggests, runs into families. For the majority of the cases, the symptoms are sporadic type. Observing the current trend, it has been estimated that the number of victims for Alzheimer’s disease may exceed more than 6 million in the year 2040.

Alzheimer’s disease is manifested by the progressive destruction of the nervous tissue which leads to slurred speech, involuntary movements of legs and arms, and seizures in some of the cases. At the initial stage, Alzheimer’s disease manifests itself in the intellectual domain, thus the victims may experience an intense form of anxiety regarding their mental deterioration of the cognitive abilities.

It is assumed that certain types of brain cells, the cholinergic brain cell, responsible for learning and memory get damaged by some reasons. These cells release acetylcholine, which is responsible for various brain activities by stimulating neighboring cells. Alzheimer’s disease adversely affects this system. Although the reason has not been yet understood, but people with severe form of Alzheimer’s disease lose 80% of their cholinergic brain cell.

Current studies affirm that biochemical damages due to Alzheimer’s disease are not limited up to the damage of cholinergic cell. Alzheimer’s disease also harms other brain parts as well such as noradrenergic system.

With these medications, the patients receive a quality life with dignity, comfort and independence for a prolonged period of time. However, one should understand it very well that alzheimer’s medication does not cure the disease, it only delay the progression of the disease to some extent.

Alzheimer’s Medication for Mild to Moderate Degree
Alzheimer’s medications known as cholinesterase inhibitors are suggested for treating mild to moderate degree of Alzheimer’s disease. These drugs provide help in delaying or preventing the symptoms from getting worse for certain period of time. Moreover these drugs also help in managing some of the behavioral symptoms as well. Some mostly used alzheimer’s medications are – Razadyne®, Exelon®, and Aricept®. The drug known as Cognex® is not marketed by the manufacture.

Until recently the researchers are not yet able to understand the actual functioning of cholinesterase inhibitors as it plays the role in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. However, current research affirms that these inhibitors play a significant role in preventing the breakdown of acetylcholine, a brain chemical that takes an active part in memory functioning, learning ability and thinking pattern. As aAlzheimer’s progresses from mild to moderate to severe degree, the production of acetylcholine decreases and the Alzheimer’s medication becomes less influential.

Alzheimer’s Medication for Moderate to Severe Degree
The medication called Namenda® is advised to treat moderate to a severe degree of Alzheimer’s disease. It provides the effect of slow progression of some of the symptoms. It is said that this Alzheimer’s medication helps patient to continue the ability to move to the bathroom in later stages solely for more months which is definitely a benefit for both patients as well as caregivers. At this stage, both Namenda® and cholinesterase inhibitors are advised together in combination. FDA also suggested Aricept® to treat moderate to severe degree of Alzheimer’s disease.

Side Effects of Alzheimer’s Medication
At the initial stages, doctors prescribe low dosages and slowly increase the dosages depending on the tolerance of the patient. Evidently, there are patients who greatly benefit from higher dosages. The higher the dosages are, the severe are the side effects. The patients are closely monitored as soon as the Alzheimer’s medications are started. It is important to notify the doctor if and when side effects appear.

This drug is administered through the skin with the help of Alzheimer’s patch.
Alzheimer’s patch is useful in the sense that it eliminates the needs of particular medications. Additionally, it has minimum side effects if compared with the side effects of medications used in the traditional methods.

There are some scientific studies that claim that the Alzheimer’s patch can significantly improve cognitive functioning and provides the same or sometimes better benefit like oral medications, however, without any possible side effects.

Moreover, many researchers affirm that people having mild to moderate degree of Alzheimer’s disease can obtain benefits from Alzheimer’s patch. It can be infused anywhere in the skin area. However, the skin area should be dry. The mostly used places are breast, arms or back side. The patch is comfortable to use and does not produce any irritation on the skin in most of the cases. For some people, the area may turn out to be reddish.

Exelon drug is marketed in the form of a pill and people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease get the benefits from using this pill. People who use this pill certainly obtain benefit from the Alzheimer’s patch without any possible adverse side effects. For some people, nausea and vomiting may be apparent after using medication, but it is not the case with the Alzheimer’s patch.

Some people have problem in swallowing, so they certainly get the additional benefits from the Alzheimer’s patch. These patches are easy to use and it needs to be infused only once per day, whereas oral medications need to be taken in multiple doses. People suffering from Alzheimer’s disease may forget to take their medications even in the early stages, so the this patch is really helpful to them.
The Alzheimer’s patch is heartily appreciated by the patients and their families and caregivers. While the drug Exelon is already approved by Food and Drug Administration, the patch is not yet been approved.

These warning signs define that there might be something more than simple memory lapse. People having Alzheimer’s disease experience difficulties in learning, communicating, reasoning and thinking, and this makes an adverse impact on one’s life. Well, there are no clear-cut lines that can tell you not to consider symptoms of this extent, but to that extent. So it is always a good idea to seek doctor’s help if you suspect anything from your own cognitive functioning.

Though forgetting names and appointments is not something really scary and it is a normal habit of many people, forgetting recently learned information is an important symptom of the onset of many types of dementia like Alzheimer’s disease. People having the onset of Alzheimer’s disease often find it difficult to plan or complete everyday’s task. However, there are many people without this risk who do the same thing due to their habit or lethargic nature. During the onset of the disease, many people forget to find out the correct word to express their feelings, but, again this is normal for some people.

People suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or at the onset may forget the location even when they are in their known places or in the neighborhood. This may happen all of a sudden and they become unable to remember how they went there. People having Alzheimer’s disease dress poorly and show a reduced ability for assessment.

It may be possible that they wear warm clothes in the summer season, while just the opposite in the winter. They are unable to perform abstract mental ability and complex form of mental tasks. An individual suffering from Alzheimer’s disease may put objects in unusual places, say a telephone in the freezer.

Apart from the above mentioned symptoms, patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease also show the following symptoms – rapid mood swings without any apparent reasons, dramatic changes in personality, extreme confusion, suspiciousness, anxiety, extreme dependency, passive behavior, unusual behavior, difficulty in sleeping and so on.

The diagnosis from Alzheimer’s tests may be probable in nature, which means that there might be some other causes as well; however, the likelihood of Alzheimer is the highest. The diagnostic test for Alzheimer may include:

Test for Mental Status
In this test, questions are asked to determine the mental status of the concerned patient. The test measures the cognitive functioning for recall, attention, learning, visuospatial ability and language.
The counselor interviews the close friends and family members to evaluate the emotional state of the patient. They are also asked about if there is any history of drug or alcohol abuse, head trauma or any other possibilities that may cause memory loss.

Psychiatric Assessments
Psychiatric assessments are done in order to analyze if there is any undercover mental illness, trauma or depression.

Blood Tests
Sometimes infections in blood may mimic the same symptoms. This is why blood tests are done to determine if there are any infections in the blood stream, or if there is any vitamin deficiency, medication level, anemia, thyroid, liver or kidney damage or any other type of problems.

Brain Imaging
Internal imaging of the brain sometimes helps in determining tumors, strokes or any other problems. Moreover, brain images also show if there is any changes in the brain structure linked with memory. Internal brain damage may sometimes lead to mimicking the symptoms as similar to Alzheimer.
The major tests used are computer tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, and positive emission tomography (PET) scan.

All of these brain tests are used to determine brain activity and how brain works under different conditions. Depending on the individual requirement, any or combination of these brain imaging techniques are used.

There are some other tests as well that provide important information on Alzheimer. These tests are – electromyalogram (EMG), electroencephalogram (EEG), CSF test and urine test. Sometimes these tests are used additionally to make the diagnosis perfect.