A brief introduction to Alzheimer's disease and Dementia

1. ALZHEIMER’S & RELATED DEMENTIA

2. ―While I am still able, I want to
articulate and give voice to what
it is like to walk in these shoes
and let people know that given
this diagnosis, we are capable of
contributing to the world around
us. Please listen to our voices –
individually and collectively.‖
-Richard
(who has early onset Alzheimer’s disease)

3. DEMENTIA
 Dementia
is the loss of cognitive
functioning—thinking, remembering,
and reasoning—to such an extent it
interferes with a person’s daily life and
activities. It is not a disease itself, but
a group of symptoms that often
accompanies a disease or condition
(www​.nia.nih.g​ov/sites/d​efault/fil​es/Unr
avel​ing_final).

4. EXAMPLES OF DISEASES THAT CAUSE
DEMENTIA
Alzheimer’s
disease
Vascular dementia
Parkinson’s disease with
dementia
Pick’s disease
Mixed dementia
Dementia with Lewy bodies
Frontotemporal dementia

5. OTHER CAUSES OF DEMENTIA
Medication
side effects
Depression
Vitamin
B12 deficiency
Chronic alcoholism
Tumors or Infections of the
Brain

6. ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE,
A FORM OF DEMENTIA
 Alzheimer's
is the most common
form of dementia, a general term for
memory loss and other intellectual
abilities serious enough to interfere
with daily life. Alzheimer's disease
accounts for 50 to 80 percent of
dementia cases (www.alz.org).

7. ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
 Progressive
brain disorder
 Damages and eventually destroys
brain cells
 Leads to loss of memory, thinking and
other brain functions
 Not a part of normal aging
 Starts slowly and gradually gets worse
 Alzheimer's is fatal, and currently,
there is no cure

8. ALZHEIMER’S BRAIN
ABNORMALITIES
Plaques, microscopic clumps of a protein called
beta-amyloid peptide
 Tangles, twisted microscopic strands of the protein
tau (rhymes with "wow")
 Loss of connections among brain cells
responsible for memory, learning and
communication. These connections, or synapses,
transmit information from cell to cell.
 Inflammation resulting from the brain's effort to
fend off the lethal effects of the other changes
under way
 Eventual death of brain cells and severe tissue
shrinkage


9. PLAQUES & TANGLES

10. BRAIN CHANGES

12. THE BRAIN-A FEW HIGHLIGHTS
Cerebral Cortex (outer layer)—processes sensory
information from outside world
 Frontal Lobe (front of brain)—thinking, organizing,
planning and problem solving, memory, attention and
movement
 Parietal Lobe (behind frontal lobe)–perception and
integration of stimuli from senses
 Occipital Lobe (back of brain)–vision
 Temporal Lobe–balance and coordination
 Amygdala—processing and remembering strong
memories (like fear)
 Hippocampus—learning and short term memory.


13. WHAT WE DO FOR PEOPLE WITH ALZHEIMER’S
DISEASE AND OTHER FORMS OF DEMENTIA
 Pharmacological
(medication)
Interventions (like Namenda & Aricept)
 Non-pharmacological interventions
 Provide support and education to
family members
 Advocate