Alzheimers Disease and Mediacation: Help for Alzheimers Patients


Alzheimers disease and mediacation have been studied together for some time as medical research strives to find a way to halt or even cure the degenerative symptoms of this illness. There is currently no known cure for this illness, but recently there has been a link found between slowing the deterioration of Alzheimers disease and mediacation that can help to achieve this goal. The bad news is that most of the mediacation used for Alzheimers disease today only seems to help about half of all of the patients who take them. The good news is that for the percentage of Alzheimers patients that medication works for, their quality of life and time spent with family can be greatly enhanced with the help of these drugs.

Medication for the Early Stages of Alzheimers

When it comes to Alzheimers disease and mediacation, the treatments that can be offered in the early stages of treatment are often the most effective. The most common mediacation used for Alzheimers disease at this phase is cholinesterase inhibitors. These drugs work on the early symptoms of Alzheimers by improving the effectiveness of a chemical called acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is a chemical messenger that is used by the body for the purpose of memory and judgment. The medications will either increase the amount of acetylcholine in the body, or by increasing the effectiveness of the chemical that is already there.

There are a number of different types of cholinesterase inhibitors on the market today, including Aricept, Razadyne and Exelon. To find out which mediacation for Alzheimers disease is the best for you, it is important to talk to your doctor about the advantages and disadvantages of each. All of these medications come with their own benefits, as well as their own side effects, and some of the side effects can be rather severe with some people.

Alzheimers Disease and Mediacation for the Later Stages

There is one mediacation for Alzheimers disease that can be given in the later stages of the illness, and this is memantine, which is known by the commercial name, Namenda. This medication works by regulating a chemical in the body known as glutamate. This chemical is also responsible for memory and learning. While there is no known cure for Alzheimers disease at this time, there are medications available that will prolong the deterioration and improve quality of time with family members for as long as possible. Talk to your doctor about Alzheimers disease and mediacation today.

Alzheimer Foundation

These drugs work on the early symptoms of Alzheimers by improving the effectiveness of a chemical called acetylcholine.

However, there is still no known cure on the horizon of Alzheimers disease history, and there are even very few options available for treating the symptoms of the illness. It is also being touted as a means to eliminate unwanted cholesterol from the Alzheimer patients brain, and Lipitor belongs to the family of drugs that reduce cholesterol that are known as statins. There are new blood tests that can test for an Alzheimers gene with certain strains of Alzheimers. This may become the time when an Alzheimers patient develops a tendency to wander and get lost, which becomes a huge safety issue for the family members who are caring for the person. The next step in the progression of Alzheimers disease is stage 2. The most recognized form of alzheimers disease support groups are those that function in local areas, in a brick and mortar environment.

The first step is to realize that your family member may vary from day to day and even hour to hour in what they are able to accomplish.
Many Alzheimers patients who have reached a point in the diseases aggression find the need to be admitted into Alzheimers nursing homes to help them with every day living tasks. Their speech will also severely decline to the point that the person may only know 6 or 7 words, if their speech is even intelligible at all. Another factor in this situation is that Alzheimers (especially late-onset Alzheimers) can be difficult to diagnose quickly since it presents symptoms of many other disease-states. Because the act of swallowing can cause choking at this stage, many will stop eating at this point as well. This is perhaps the most important Alzheimers information of all, because if you are able to understand the structure of the disease then if you do have a loved one who is suffering from it you are able to understand how they are feeling as the disease progresses in their case.

Because of this, different things are tired al the time in regard to methods of coping with the disease, and trying to find ways to simply cure it.
While family members can offer a certain degree of care at home, there may be special circumstances in which the family members are not able to care for the patient and Alzheimers nursing homes may be the best place for them. The way a lot of people go about this is by using message boards online. Currently, there are few questionable medications being used in therapy for Alzheimers Disease and there is no known cure. They are also better equipped to explain the circumstances and progress of the disease to family members. The memory continues to decline and the ability to perform tasks becomes more of a problem. From the familys point of view, it may not always seem like the best option and many feel helpless because they are physically or mentally unable to provide the constant care the patient needs.