Alzheimers

[kinglouie]

Hey everyone, i was at a Psych lecture a while ago and the presenter said that there is a high chance of an alzheimers question being in the exam, due to the fact that the victorian goverment requested that it be put into the study design. And i was having trouble working out a summary of it, e.g. what is it, what causes it, what does it effect...
So if anyone could post a summary of it or anything similar it would be muchly appreciated
Cheers
P.S sorry if this should have been in the questions thread i was unsure about it.

[Zafaraaaa]

Alzheimers is the most common form of Dementia. This means that Alzheimers is characterised by the progressive decline of a person's mental functioning. More specifically though, Alzheimers is a neurodegenerative disease (meaning neurons in the brain degenerate or become destroyed), because fibres of the neurons in the brain get tangled, and amyloid plaques form. (Amyloid is a protein that is neurotoxic- because it interferes with normal brain functioning). People with Alzheimers show different symptoms like irritabilty, memory loss (amnesia), loss in intellectual capacity, loss in social skills, changes in personality. However, it is initially very difficult to diagnose that someone has Alzheimers, because there is no one reliable symptom that can be used for diagnosis. E.g. sometimes even though someone elderly forgets things like "what they did yesterday on a family trip" some people think this is a normal part of ageing. IT IS NOT. It could be one of the early signs of Alzheimers Disease. Furthermore, as Alzheimers gets worse, a person may start to become irritable, they may repeat the same stories and questions over and over again (because they can't remember if they've said it before), and they would shut themselves out from the world. Alzheimers is really concerning because it's something that slowly kills the person who is affected, and it's even been found that the average number of years an Alzheimers patient lives after diagnosis is only about 7 years.

Sorry this is a kind-of long summary...

[vexx]

^ Note that you can't be diagnosed with Alzheimers until after death at the autopsy, but you can say you have Dementia of Alzheimers type (DAT)

Also it may be interesting to know that the symptoms in Alzeimers also occur in normal aging just not with the same intesnity that Alzheimers has (cognitive deteriotion is evident in normal aging)

[izzykose]

I have seen alot of questions which ask for "early symptoms of Alzheimer's" or "What memory system is likely to be effected by Alzheimer's first?" or "What memory system would be likely to be effected by Alzheimer's last?"

I cannot find the answers to these questions.. can someone help?

[Zafaraaaa]

The early symptoms of Alzheimers are generally: memory loss (particularly for recently learnt information), difficulties with concentration and planning, difficulties in performing once easy and familiar tasks, impairment in judgements, and changes in personality (becoming more irritable)

Usually episodic memory (for recent events) is affected first, then semantic memory and lastly procedural memory, if I'm not wrong.. =/

[Russ]

This pic is kinda big (i just photoshopped slides together) but it might help

[sacha1123]

omg cannot believe that alzheimers was the extended response

[MeLucky]

goddamnit why did I not heed this thread :/
That extended response bent me over the desk and brutally violated me

[Zafaraaaa]

Hey everyone, i was at a Psych lecture a while ago and the presenter said that there is a high chance of an alzheimers question being in the exam

LOL your presenter's prediction was spot on! 

[Moe112]

Wow and to think I just skimmed over this thread.

[agro]

accidently stumbling over this a day before the end of year exam
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

[Anon123]

EHHH