Alzheimer's disease
Undeniably, a number of people at one stage in their lives experience mental health problems. Often, mental illnesses are purported to be forms of intellectual disabilities while, in the real sense, they are illnesses just like any other, such as tuberculosis. Health problems, affecting a person’s behaviour, feelings, and mutual interaction with others are what constitute a mental illness. Alzheimer’s disease is one of the common forms of mental illnesses, which affects the brain and causes thinking, memory and behavioural problems (George, 2006). The disease is usually diagnosed amongst the elderly i.e. Persons aged above sixty-five years, although it does not constitute as a normal part of old age. However, the disease can also occur at an early age, although it is usually less prevalent at this age. Precisely, the disease worsens over time as it progresses.
Succinct assessment of Alzheimer’s disease is significant, as it incorporates information from both the patient’s caregivers and patients’ themselves, which is essential in the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease. Nonetheless, methods used for assessment should be valid and reliable. There exist various types of assessment methods for Alzheimer’s disease including functional assessment, cognitive assessment, global assessment, and caregiver based assessment methods (George, 2006). Arguably, the specified methods can further be used for periodical reassessment purposes. Due to the different aspects existing in the mentioned methods, a single test is not reliable in assessing as well as diagnosing all aspects of Alzheimer’s disease.
The assessment process for Alzheimer’s disease begins with assessment of the medical history of the patient. This entails questions asked either to the patient or the caregiver or both about the past illnesses incurred by the person being assessed for the disease. Moreover, questions on injuries, surgeries, and current chronic conditions are also asked to ascertain the possible causes of the disease symptoms (Hooper & Gillespie, 2000). An example is where persons with cardiovascular diseases are prone to instances of reduced blood flow to the brain causing memory loss, which is a prevalent symptom of the disease.
History on previous medications is then assessed to ascertain the possibilities that confusion experienced by Alzheimer’s patients may be due to their side effects, dosages, and allergies. Knowledge on this will aid in determining medication prescriptions in the future, which accounts for some symptoms exhibited by patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Subsequently, mood evaluation is carried out to assess for Alzheimer’s-like symptoms including depression and anxiety.
Thereafter, the mental status of the patients is examined to assess for cognitive skills entailing memory and concentration. This assessment process uses research-based questions, which gives a result indicating the impairment levels of patient. Patients scoring high in the mental exam have lesser chances of having the disease. Nonetheless, Patricia, 2010 in his research on Alzheimer found that highly educated persons get higher scores in mental exams despite having the disease.
Complete physical examination assessing basic indicators of the disease including pulse rate, blood pressure, vision, and hearing is then carried out. This assists in detection of severe medical states, which are likely to be responsible for Alzheimer’s. Adequate laboratory tests are then carried out based on the patient’s medical history (George, 2006). This is essential as it rules out misconceptions on the disease like in case of acute confusion, urinalysis test is necessary, to rule out urinary tract infection probabilities. Finally, neurological examinations of sensory functioning, motor movement, gait, reflexes, and coordination are done, to reveal nervous disorders resulting in behavioural and thinking defects. Upon completion of the assessment process, findings are interpreted either as normal, abnormal, and mixed. Reassurance is given for the normal cases, but with follow up after half a year or one year. Mixed cases are referred for further clinical examinations and evaluations, while abnormal cases are put on treatment.
A common symptom associated with Alzheimer’s disease is acute memory loss particularly forgetting information learned in the recent past. Patients also have trouble planning as well as solving numerical problems. Moreover, they find it hard to complete given tasks, and confuse dates and places easily. Precisely, patients face difficulties in visualisation of images and the spatial relations. Writing and speaking poses a difficulty to persons with the disease. They also tend to lose things as well as the ability to retrace them. Evidently, they experience mood swings, and decreased judgement forcing them to withdraw from social activities they engaged in previously.
There are medications, which have been approved to be significant in treating Alzheimer’s disease. For instance, cholinesterase inhibitors hinder breakdown of chemical, acetylcholine, which is responsible for learning and memorisation. Precisely, medications increase levels of acetylcholine in the brain, hence, slowing the progression of disease symptoms. Since Alzheimer’s comes with mental and physical effects, counselling of both the infected and the affected is of crucial importance. Family and group counselling enables the affected realize that they are not alone hence giving them hope. It also gives guidelines on how to cope with the condition. Working with a well-trained health care giver enhances development of right treatment plan for the condition. Proper planning coupled with medical and counselling management reduces the disease burden on both the patients as well as their families. Additionally, proper nutrition and exercise is also essential in management of the disease. Patients should stay in a calm environment to aid patient’s work on their own (Patricia, 2010).
Deductively, the assessment process, which aids in diagnosis of the condition, is essential as it helps in the identification of the possible causes of the condition. This will help in prevention of the disease occurrence amongst other populations. Assessment and diagnosis process further gives the right treatment course to be followed in management of the condition. Precisely, it gives informs on future medicinal prescriptions, as some medications are associated with igniting the disease symptoms due to allergic reactions. Precisely assessment and diagnosis slow down disease progress as well as improving disease related symptoms for some length of time.
George, P. (2006). Alzheimer’s disease: a century of scientific and clinical research. Munich:
Hanser Publishers.
Hooper, N. & Gillespie, S. (2000). Alzheimer’s disease: methods and protocols. California:
Wadsworth Publishers.
Patricia, R. (2010). Alzheimer’s disease: The dignity within. London: Hometown News.
