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Not just senile dementia

Alzheimer’s disease is a tragedy – for sufferers and for their families. While most patients are over 65, persons in their 30s have been diagnosed. Established risk factors are older age and inheriting mutations in genes.

Loss of memory, confusion, and disorientation are not part of the normal aging process. It is important to differentiate between normal everyday forgetfulness and the progress of a disorder that might be Alzheimer’s. Recent studies have shown, for instance, that stress, which is one of the major causes of illness in western society, can also cause forgetfulness.

The problem with Alzheimer’s is that it includes symptoms found in other illnesses and disorders, such as stroke, which effects speech, and hormonal factors, which can cause behavioural changes. The first stop is often the chemist’s …

Pharmacy customer: Hello.

PTA: Hello, what can I do for you?

Pharmacy customer: Well, I have a rather unusual problem. I didn’t know if I should go to my doctor, but it takes ages there and I really don’t have the time.

PTA: Okay! So, what might your problem be?

Pharmacy customer: Well, over the past few weeks and months I’ve noticed that I’m a bit bothered, you know, a little forgetful. I’ll find myself standing in a room and not knowing why I’m there. Or my husband will ask me to get something for him in the pantry and I’ll come back without it. You know that sort of thing, and it has been happening very often.

PTA: I see. Do you mind me asking how old you are?

Pharmacy customer: Not at all, I’m 47.

PTA: Hmm! Have you been under a lot of stress over the period that you spoke about? You see stress can really affect your health, everything from hair loss, mood changes and palpitations to forgetfulness.

Pharmacy customer: Really, I didn’t know that! And I was worried that I might have Alzheimer’s!

PTA: Well Alzheimer’s does have a lot of symptoms similar to other disorders. These symptoms include things like gradual memory loss, changes in personality, losing the ability to perform the activities of daily living, difficulty learning new things, impaired language abilities, impaired judgement and even personality changes.

Pharmacy customer: What actually happens when you have Alzheimer’s?

PTA: You mean clinically? Oh! I’m no expert, but basically what happens is that the changes to nerve fibres in the brain accumulate. These changes reduce the number and the effectiveness of nerve cell connections. What happens first is that short-term memory becomes affected. After that, other areas of the brain controlling various functions such as anything to do with the intellect and everyday physical functions become affected. In some cases the changes are rapid, in others it takes a very long time for the symptoms to accumulate. The whole progress of the disease may take from 3 to even 20 years.

Pharmacy customer: Is it possible that I could have Alzheimer’s? I mean I have one or two of those symptoms that you mentioned.

PTA: Well, not only stress can give rise to symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s, depression also has one or two things in common with the disease. For example, severe depression can cause things like forgetfulness and lack of concentration.

Pharmacy customer: Isn’t there any medication I can take to counteract my symptoms?

PTA: I’m sorry but only a specialist can prescribe anything that can help, I‘m afraid. It’s really only after comprehensive clinical evaluation – everything from magnetic resonance imaging to a full psychological assessment – that it can be determined if a patient has Alzheimer’s or not. Therefore, I recommend to ask your GP if you worry too much about your forgetfulness. Is someone in your family diagnosed as having some form of dementia?

Pharmacy customer: I don’t think that there’s anyone in my family that ever had any form of dementia.

PTA: Well, just to reassure you I think that your forgetfulness is basically caused by stress. Having said all that, in your position I still think that it is better to seek medical consultation, even if it means sitting for a while in your doctor’s surgery.

Pharmacy customer: But what if I have Alzheimer’s? What am I going to do?

PTA: Don’t worry! Early diagnosis and proper medical treatment will help. In fact, studies have shown that most patients react quite positively to treatment.

Pharmacy customer: What does the treatment involve?

PTA: Well, as I said, your GP will probably do a complete physical work-up before referring you to a specialist. In some cases, however, it’s been found that some type of hormonal imbalance has caused symptoms like forgetfulness and disorientation, so it might not be necessary to send you to a specialist at all.

Pharmacy customer: Is there anything I could do myself to improve my mental abilities?

PTA: You could play chess or solve crossword puzzles to exercise your brain. This will improve your mental performance and you will enjoy it. And it’s been found that preparations with ginkgo actually improve memory functions.

Pharmacy customer: You have been very helpful and reassuring. I think I’ll make an appointment with my GP straight away.

PTA: No problem! We’re always willing to help in any way. Bye bye!

Pharmacy customer: Bye!

Vocabulary

Intro

senile Alters-
sufferers Betroffene, Leidende
to establish feststellen
to inherit erben, vererben

Text

to differentiate unterscheiden
forgetfulness Vergesslichkeit
for instance zum Beispiel
stroke Schlaganfall
speech Sprache, Rede, hier: Sprech- bzw. Sprachfähigkeit
chemist hier: Apotheker
unusual ungewöhnlich
pantry Vorratsraum
to affect eine Auswirkung haben
mood Laune, Stimmung
palpitations Herzklopfen
gradual allmählich
impaired language abilities beeinträchtigte Sprachfähigkeiten
judgement Urteilsvermögen
fibres Fasern
to accumulate ansammeln, anhäufen
short-term Kurzzeit
in common gemeinsam
severe schwerwiegend
to counteract gegenwirken
comprehensive aufwändig
magnetic resonance imaging Magnetresonanztomografie (MRI) (MRT)
to be determined festgestellt werden
to reassure beruhigen, vergewissern
treatment Behandlung
physical work-up komplette medizinische Untersuchung
to refer to hier: überweisen zu
appointment hier: Termin
chess Schach
crossword puzzle Kreuzworträtsel
10/07