Alzheimer’s can also cause changes in behavior both mentally and physically as well as trigger paranoia, anxiety, delusion and even hallucinations. It is indeed a horrible and awful disease.

The disease affects over 15 million elderly men and women worldwide and it is the most common form of dementia, with over 75% of cases diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The disease acts by shrinking and eating away at areas of the brain, especially the memory (hippocampus) and thinking (cortex) areas.

Alzheimer’s is a slow, gradual disease that isn’t as easy to detect as one would imagine. Indeed diagnosis can only fully be qualified with an after death brain-biopsy, but lapses in memory are the real first signs of the onset of Alzheimer’s with individuals usually having trouble remembering things like telephone numbers, recent events and even names to start with.

This is often put down to simple forgetfulness on the sufferer’s part or family members of the person involved and it isn’t until Alzheimer’s actually advances that people recognize something isn’t quite right as the disease starts impacting on the brain and subsequently the individual’s life.

There is no known cure for Alzheimer’s at current and while there is a whole host of treatments available the disease isn’t reversible and nor can it be contained, it eventually eats away at the brain and will kill or help contribute towards death in time.