Alzheimers disease (AD) is a disease that is very prevalent in the present day. Many people know Alzheimers disease due to its effect on causing people to forget things. Alzheimers disease does in fact cause one to forget many things, but there is much going on inside the body causing this forgetfulness, loss of memory, and overall trouble of thinking. With these problems occurring, another problem usually arises and that is the fact that the patient with Alzheimers disease can no longer speak for themselves and needs a family member to do so for them. This can create many problems which will be talked about. First it is key to understand the science behind Alzheimers disease.
The key reason for Alzheimers disease that is currently under research is the role of insulin in the central nervous system. One possible way that insulin leads to AD is through impaired neuronal insulin action. The big reason impaired neuronal insulin action is bad is that insulin has a regulatory role concerning the amyloid precursor protein and its derivative beta-amyloid. This protein is associated with senile plaques which are seen in high concentration when someone has AD. So when insulin is being impaired, the degradation and trafficking of beta-amyloid is basically being interfered with and that can lead to Alzheimers disease. So possible treatment for Alzheimers disease could be done by administering insulin to a patient with AD. This is still an area that needs much research, but it provides a hopeful option to treatment for AD.
This leads me to talking about the effects that AD can have on a person. When a person gets AD, they start to lose there memory and ability to think. This causes them to often be forgetful. As the disease progresses, this issue becomes worse and often times the person isn’t able to make decisions for themselves any longer. This creates many issues because often the family has to take over for that person. If the patient didn’t set up any type of plan for themselves as far as what they want in a life where they can no longer make decisions, then the family has to step in. This often leads to a patient family conflict. The family can often be selfish when they think they are doing what is best for the patient, but they really just don’t realize what the patient wants and that is not their fault. Often the patient will be in a lot of pain and discomfort and the family will keep trying to do everything in their power to keep that patient alive when maybe the patient doesn’t want that but just can’t express that feeling. This type of issue is very common in the medical field and is one that needs to be addressed. There needs to be some type of program implemented that meets with people early in life to discuss what they want if they happen to be faced with a serious illness. Its not just AD where this issue arises, but many other diseases also see this issue. If a program can be implemented then future family and patient issues could be avoided leading to a happier party of both sides.
Overall Alzheimers disease still needs to have much research done to discover effective treatments for patients experiencing AD, but there are areas that give hope like insulin. There also needs to be a program implemented that will allow patients the opportunity to talk about what they want with their life if they are faced with a serious illness and can no longer make decisions for themselves. If this can be accomplished, then there will be less patient family issues in the medical field.
Alzheimers Disease: When Decisions Can't Be Made
