Alzheimers

Alzheimer’s is a common, progressive, and degenerative disease. It causes the loss of memory and other cognitive functions. Dementia occurs often with patients sixty-five and older. This is the gradual loss of mental function. People with Alzheimer’s have an abnormal deposit of beta amyloid. A combination of this protein and destroyed nerve cells causes plaque. Tangles of nerve fibers are then formed. The elimination of nerve cell connection damages pathways to the brain. …

…of those over eighty have Alzheimer’s disease. · An average person with Alzheimer’s will live eight years after being diagnosed, and as many as twenty years or more · Alzheimer’s disease costs the U.S. at least $100 billion a year. This is so because neither Medicare nor health insurance covers it · Half of all nursing home patients suffer from Alzheimer’s or a dementia · The federal government spent $466 million for Alzheimer’s disease in 2000