Alzheimer’s disease is progressive and has no cure. However, if you start treatment early, it’s possible to slow the progression of the disease. Doing this can improve your quality of life and increase how many lucid years you have after a diagnosis.
The treatment regimen for the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease usually includes a combination of medications and behavioral therapies. These are aimed at slowing the progression of the disease as much as possible while helping you manage the symptoms. Three of the drugs you may be prescribed are cholinesterase inhibitors, glutamate regulators, and immunotherapy medications.
Cholinesterase inhibitors work by preventing the breakdown of acetylcholine, a brain chemical that’s been shown to be important for memory and thinking.
Immunotherapy medications are designed to reduce the build-up of amyloid plaques that develop on the brain as Alzheimer’s disease progresses.
Glutamate regulators manage the level of glutamate in the body and have been known to improve memory, attention, reason, language, and the ability to perform simple tasks.
In addition to medication, you may be assigned a therapist to help with coping strategies for your condition. These can include identifying triggers for episodes, memory exercises, and managing your mood changes.
RELATED: 9 Tips For Coping With Early Stage Alzheimer’s
One of the issues with the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease is that many people dismiss them as a natural part of aging. However, this is not the case. While some memory loss can occur in older adults, it shouldn’t be enough to disrupt your daily life.
Some early signs of the condition include having trouble completing familiar tasks, being unable to follow familiar instructions, forgetting to take care of regular tasks such as paying a monthly bill, losing track of the time of day or year, forgetting a regular planned activity like a monthly family visit, and having trouble with understanding something you’re reading.
Alzheimer’s can also affect your spatial reasoning so you may suddenly have trouble judging the distance between two items or maintaining your balance. Additionally, you may have increasing trouble finding the right words for what you want to express and be unable to retrace your steps.
As the condition worsens, it’s most likely to affect your memory first. People in the later stages of Alzheimer’s disease start to forget the names and faces of people they should be familiar with and are more likely to forget where they are or why they are in a particular place. They may have trouble sleeping, frequent mood swings, bouts of depression, and issues expressing themselves. Many of them develop paranoid delusions that make it impossible for them to trust others – even family members. They may also start having hallucinations.
In the later stages of the disease, the symptoms become more physical. You may have urinary and bowel incontinence, lose speech altogether, have trouble moving from one position to the other, have rapid weight loss, and have difficulty eating or swallowing.
By this stage, you may need a caregiver to ensure you’re taking care of yourself.
RELATED: Alzheimer’s Disease: Black Americans Are Hardest Hit
Though doctors don’t know why, Black people are almost twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as other ethnicities. They’re also more prone to having severe symptoms.
Despite those facts, Black Americans are 35 percent less likely to be accurately diagnosed with the disease even when they have the characteristic symptoms. This makes it almost impossible for those with Alzheimer’s to get treatment for their early symptoms promptly.
It also doesn’t help that as much as 55 percent of Black Americans still believe that some of the early signs of Alzheimer’s are expected changes when aging even though 65 percent of them report knowing someone with the disease.
However, studies show that their experiences with medical personnel could play a role in why so many Black people don’t seek care. Almost 50 percent of Black Americans surveyed in recent studies said that they faced discrimination when seeking care for someone with Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, only 20 percent said they had no trouble accessing healthcare for the condition and other chronic diseases.
Alzheimer’s is a serious disease that has been shown to affect Black Americans more than other ethnicities. However, medical discrimination and personal perceptions can make it difficult to get the necessary treatment. If you have any symptoms of the disease, it’s essential to get assessed as soon as possible – even if you have to see multiple doctors to be sure.
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