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Consequences of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease initial symptoms

Alzheimer's disease is a disease of the nervous system and is one of the main causes of death in old age.

According to statistics, 15% of the world's population suffers from this disease to one degree or another.

Therefore, you should pay attention to the behavior of older people, and if certain symptoms are present, immediately seek the help of doctors.

Signs of Alzheimer's disease indicate the presence of pathological changes in the brain, which develop and progress rapidly over time.

Brain cells gradually die, and the person slowly loses memory, becomes absent-minded, and coordination is impaired.

All these and some other symptoms lead to dementia. Very often this is called senile insanity.

Typically, Alzheimer's disease develops in older people, but the first signs and symptoms may appear as early as the middle age of 40.

Many scientists have proven that people with developed intelligence are less susceptible to this fate than those with little education.

Also, women are more prone to dementia than men, the reason for this is the longer life expectancy of the weaker sex.

Causes and factors of the disease

The causes of Alzheimer's disease are not fully understood, so many modern scientists are still researching them.

But, some conclusions have been drawn, they say that in many cases, when the disease appears, heredity plays an important role.

The disease can be transmitted in the form of genes, which lead to its occurrence. Dementia is also caused by severe damage to the nervous system.

This is the appearance of plaques in the brain tissue and neurofibrillary tangles. The root cause of their occurrence is prion proteins, which cause this process.

These formations negatively affect brain function, impair memory and intelligence. Cause significant impairment of mental performance and a decrease in neurotransmitters.

The presence of these substances contributes to proper operation cells, and when they are deficient, brain function is impaired. As a result, there is a disorder of memory and attention, and mental ability is impaired.

Another little-studied cause of the disease is toxic metal poisoning.

For example, this can happen when eating, when grains of aluminum or other metal get into the food.

Additional risk factors

They also pay attention to some factors that may contribute to the development of the disease. First of all, this is age; the older a person is, the greater the chance of encountering this disease.

Contribute to the development of pathology and, especially, loss of consciousness.

Patients suffering from various diseases of the cardiovascular system and diabetes are at risk.

It has been established that high blood pressure can cause a stroke, during which blood vessels in the brain are damaged. As a result, memory and speech are impaired and the general condition worsens.

All listed factors may lead to illness in the future.

Viral infections that affect the nervous system also play a certain role in the onset of the disease.

Poor nutrition bad habits can also lead to senile insanity.

This is especially true for heavy smokers. This addiction changes blood pressure, impairs blood clotting, so the factor in the development of pathology increases.

The disease is also more common in people with a lack of mental stress.

Clinical picture

There are several stages of Alzheimer's disease

predementia;
early;
moderate;
late stage.

Predementia

Often, the first symptoms of Alzheimer's disease can appear at a fairly young age, after 40 years.

There are practically no symptoms, only occasionally there may be complaints of weakness and apathy. The examination also does not reveal any violations or any changes in memory.

Early stage

At an early stage, the first symptoms of Alzheimer's disease appear.

Partial memory loss occurs, sometimes familiar names and surnames, some words, locations of objects, etc. are forgotten.

The patient sometimes gets lost in a situation where it is necessary to plan or compare something, cannot pay in a store, gets lost among strangers.

In addition, attention is impaired, the person becomes irritable and nervous. Severe headaches and dizziness often appear. However, with such violations, examination may not always detect changes.

- a symptom that occurs in many neurological diseases. What treatment methods does modern medicine offer? How to help a person diagnosed with Charcot-Marie amyotrophy survive or at least alleviate his suffering. to these and other questions.

Dementia progresses

At the next stage of development, dementia begins to progress and the condition worsens significantly.

Deviations are already noticeable, they can also be detected during a medical examination, during which special testing is carried out.

The patient cannot remember the names of relatives and friends, it is difficult to remember the names of objects, it is difficult to remember what he saw or read a text.

Inability to make calculations, name the day of the week, date.

Moreover, patients need help getting dressed and undressed, they become withdrawn and upset, irritated for any reason, and can get lost while walking.

Many people lose the feeling of fullness while eating; they don’t remember what foods they ate.

Inappropriate behavior is observed unhealthy person may shout, cry, laugh, threaten, etc. for no reason. Problems arise with movement, the gait imperceptibly turns into “shuffling.”

Last stage

The fourth stage is very difficult, a radical change in personality occurs, the patient is in complete need of outside help.

He cannot clearly express his thoughts, often loses speech completely, forgets his name, and often does not recognize his family and friends.

Problems with the toilet arise, moments of urinary and fecal incontinence occur, patients require assistance when walking, sometimes they cannot hold their head up on their own, and the swallowing reflex becomes weak.

Very often, severe disorders lead to hallucinations, manic behavior, etc. In this case, the skin becomes flabby and dry, cracks may appear, and the muscle mass, sometimes seizures occur.

The patient practically stops moving and cannot get out of bed without assistance.

Treatment of the disease

Unfortunately, it is impossible to cure the disease completely, but there are still some drugs and treatment methods to maintain a stable condition of patients and slow down the progression of the disease.

First of all, this drug therapy, which facilitates the course of the disease, slows down the development of pathology, and strengthens memory.

With the help of antipsychotics, they suppress aggression and psychosis, fight apathy and depression.

The psychosocial method of treatment is widely practiced; it is aimed at maintaining the psychological state of patients.

To do this, they use training to restore memory, music therapy, practice exercises that activate the senses, etc.

Traditional medicine is practically powerless in treating the disease, but with its help you can strengthen the immune system, and this can benefit the patient.

Treatment details

How to avoid getting sick?

Following the necessary prevention recommendations will help avoid of this disease. They are uncomplicated and quite simple.

Perhaps the most effective prevention is healthy image life:

proper nutrition;
moderate physical activity;
giving up bad habits;
communication with friends and loved ones.

Also, for prevention purposes, you need to regularly monitor blood pressure and blood sugar levels, avoid head injuries, protect the body from radiation and chemical influences, conduct regular examinations with specialists.

So, reading books, solving crosswords, mind games etc.

All of the above measures have positive results in this direction and can preserve health for many years.

It should be recognized that today modern medicine is not in to the fullest copes with Alzheimer's disease, the means that can overcome the disease and completely cure it have not yet been found.

But prospects exist, as scientists around the world are developing new methods and drugs, conducting various studies, thanks to which, in the near future, it will be possible to completely get rid of the disease.

Alzheimer's disease is an age-related disease whose symptoms are characterized by gradual decline mental abilities, namely: memory loss, changes in speech, lack of logical thinking. Manifestations of the disease are observed in people over 65 years of age.

Experts say that the development of Alzheimer's disease most often occurs in people with a low intellectual level of development who perform unskilled work. Having developed intelligence reduces the likelihood of developing of this disease, since between the nerve cells in this case there is more connections. In this case, the functions performed by the dead cells are transferred to others that were not previously involved. However, cases of this disease among the smartest people of your time - also a lot. Former US President Ronald Reagan, Irish writer Iris Murdoch, writer Terry Pratchett, former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, actors Peter Falk, Annie Girardot, Charlton Heston and others suffered from this disease.

Most often, symptoms of Alzheimer's disease occur in females. According to experts, this happens due to their longer duration life. It is known that most men die earlier, even before possible occurrence age-related dementia.

With the development of this disease, so-called senile plaques are deposited in the brain and neurofibrillary tangles are formed. These processes destroy nerve pathways in brain tissue.

What is the real reason Alzheimer's disease is still unknown. However, researchers have found genes responsible for predisposition to this disease. It has been proven that extensive destruction of nerve cells in the brain leads to loss of mental abilities.

People at risk include:

prone to;
having a genetic predisposition;
caring for a person with Alzheimer's disease.

A man who has been active all his life mental activity, less susceptible to developing age-related dementia. There is an opinion that the disease occurs due to a lack of special substances responsible for nerve impulses, as well as due to hypothyroidism, head injuries, tumors and much more.

Signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease

It is very difficult to detect this disease when it just begins to appear. Often, the relatives of the sick person do not take the first “bells” seriously and classify them as age-related phenomena.

To the main signs early illness Alzheimer's include:

Please note: The main sign of the development of the disease is complaints about the inability to do simple calculations. Handwriting becomes different, hallucinations appear, and the person begins to delusion. However, only a specialist, taking into account the whole picture of what is happening, the symptoms and additional examination, can make an appropriate diagnosis.

The development of the disease begins with increasing memory loss. At an early stage, the disease is invisible to others, since people try to hide such phenomena. Then the patient forgets everything that happened to him earlier. Over time, he ceases to navigate in space and forgets everything he has learned. At first, a person simply cannot remember recent events, and over time and as the disease progresses, he loses old memories. He stops recognizing faces and forgets the difference between color and shape. Speech becomes slurred.

Symptoms of Alzheimer's disease may worsen:

loneliness for a long time;
a crowd of strangers;
unfamiliar objects and surroundings;
darkness;
heat;
infections;
taking medications in large quantities.

The active development of the disease reduces a person’s ability to think independently and move. Patients with Alzheimer's disease stop recognizing loved ones, do not remember their age and key life moments. They seem to be stuck in the past and can imagine themselves still young. In addition, at this stage of Alzheimer's disease, there is a violation of everyday skills.

A person forgets how:

dress;
use cutlery;
perform toilet and hygiene procedures;
eat food.

The patient loses the ability to read, write, count, forgets words, limiting himself to a stereotypical set of them, loses orientation to the time of day, and the ability to swallow food. Such a person may experience severe apathy or, conversely, aggression.

Please note: at a deep stage of development of the disease, the patient is not able to exist independently and needs care and feeding. It is not possible to cure this disease.

How long do people with Alzheimer's disease live? According to statistics, the average life expectancy from the moment of diagnosis does not exceed seven years. However, some patients can live up to twenty years.

It is important to know that complications of the disease can cause:

malnutrition;
all kinds of injuries;
infectious diseases.

Therefore, diagnosing at the beginning of the development of the disease is very important point. It is necessary to ensure that an elderly relative is regularly examined and, at the first suspicion, immediately contacts a specialist.

Please note: as the disease progresses, it is important to take measures and support the patient’s self-care skills, surround him with attention and prevent the development of depressive states.

If the first signs of Alzheimer's disease appear, you should urgently undergo an appropriate examination. For diagnosis, questionnaires have been developed that help determine the presence of the disease. In addition, you will need to submit additional tests, undergo a tomography, cardiogram, explore thyroid gland, do encelography. A specialist may also prescribe a PET scan of the brain.

The diagnosis is established taking into account the patient’s life history, stories from his relatives, based on test results, hereditary data, and also by exclusion alternative diseases. All existing methods diagnosing the disease allows us to give the most accurate assessment of the patient’s current condition. Sometimes final diagnosis can only be determined by biopsy of brain tissue or posthumously.

Unfortunately, there is no therapy yet that can cope with this disease. However, there are many ways to prevent it and slow down its development, allowing you to prolong a person’s life, support his social functioning, facilitate his care, and also partially compensate for the violation of his psychological state.

The essence of therapy for Alzheimer's disease is a clear selection effective medicines, in accordance with the individual characteristics of a person.

Please note: Attentive care of the patient at home is very important. The need for hospitalization is justified only in the presence of dangerous mental disorders and inappropriate behavior. In other cases, it can harm the patient.

Medicines that can be used to alleviate the condition are very expensive. In addition, they have a lot side effects and are not always effective. Remember that there are no special drugs to treat this disease.

Important: At the first symptoms of the disease, you should contact a neurologist.

How a specialist can help:

Examines the patient.
Consult relatives about the rules of caring for him.
Prescribe treatment with drugs that slow down the development of the disease.
Will refer you to a psychiatrist, gerontologist and other doctors for additional examinations.

Medicines and drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease

There are several drugs that alleviate the condition of patients. They are approved by renowned regulatory agencies EMEA and FDA. With the help of these medications, therapy is carried out aimed at improving memory and spatial orientation. However, none of them can stop the progression of the disease.

IN modern medicine medications such as Galantamine, Donepezil and Rivastigmine are used. Their positive effect is observed only at the beginning of the disease and in the moderate stage. In the presence of a highly developed disease, Donepezil is prescribed.

Please note: Doses of drugs are selected individually by the attending physician. All medications have contraindications and side effects.

The well-known drug “Memantine” is prescribed for moderate and severe stages of the disease. However, it can cause dizziness, hallucinations, fatigue and migraines. If it is used in combination with Donepezil, you can get a barely noticeable positive result: memory improves, and the ability to take care of yourself appears.

The use of antipsychotics for acute aggression improves the patient's condition, but impairs motor abilities and worsens the level of social functioning. Regular use of these drugs is not recommended.

Treatment with folk remedies

Recipes traditional medicine will not help eradicate the disease, but they will significantly reduce its manifestations, alleviating the patient’s condition.

It is worth introducing black tea into your diet. These drinks stimulate brain activity. You can also take soy lecithin. The dosage is up to 3 grams per day.

IN complex therapy The following decoctions may be used:

Motherwort is also taken in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. It normalizes the activity of the nervous system and lowers blood pressure.

Recent research has shown that curcumin may help prevent certain changes in the brain. This substance is part of the root of the famous plant. This seasoning is popular not only in eastern countries, but also in Russia. It can be added to first and second courses, baked meat with it, and seasoned pilaf. There are preparations containing turmeric root extract. The advisability of taking them should be discussed with your doctor.

Prevention of Alzheimer's disease

The best ways to prevent disease are considered:

intellectual activity;
reading;
playing chess;
solving crossword puzzles;
regular communication with people.

However, according to medical observations, no clear evidence of the effectiveness of such measures has been identified. Epidemiological studies have shown that special diet, prevention of cardiovascular diseases and active thought processes can also prevent the onset of the disease.

When symptoms of Alzheimer's appear, as well as in order to prevent its development, experts recommend following a Mediterranean diet. It is necessary to introduce vegetables, cereals, fruits, red wine and fish dishes. Vitamins, especially B3 and B12, ascorbic acid and folic acid, also reduce the risk of disease.

Smoking and drinking alcohol (except for a small amount of red wine) is strictly prohibited. It is necessary to focus on citrus fruits, as well as seafood rich in folic acid.

The amount of liquid consumed should be controlled. The normal volume should not be less than 1.5 liters per day.

Bee products are very effective for the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. The patient should eat at least 3 tablespoons of honey per day, which leads to improved memory and slower brain inhibition functions.

Trofimova Yaroslava, medical observer

Alzheimer's syndrome is a fairly common disease characteristic of older people, which many associate with memory impairment and helplessness of patients. What is Alzheimer's disease and how does it progress?

General information

Alzheimer's disease or syndrome is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by cognitive and behavioral disorders. This condition significantly impairs social and occupational functioning, as well as the quality of life of a person.

Alzheimer's syndrome is a fairly common disease affecting older people.

On at the moment This incurable disease. It has a long preclinical period, the first symptoms are usually vague. Often early manifestations diseases are mistaken for signs of aging. Because of this, almost half a century after the discovery of Alzheimer's syndrome, the diagnosis was made exclusively to patients young(40-65 years old). The same symptoms in older people were attributed to senile dementia and malaise. The further picture in most cases is quite negative.

From the pathophysiology side, the following are observed in the body with this syndrome:

death of nerve cells;
rupture of synaptic connections;
education amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles;
accumulation of pathological proteins in tissues;
deposition of beta-amyloid in cells and some other changes.

Alzheimer's disease or syndrome is a neurodegenerative disease that is characterized by cognitive and behavioral disorders

Etiology

The causes of Alzheimer's syndrome are not clear. The most plausible theory is that the development of the disease can be provoked by a combination of certain factors:

heredity;
lifestyle;
ecology.

These factors have harmful influence on the brain over a long period of time, resulting in Alzheimer's disease.

A certain role in predisposition to the syndrome is most likely played by:

age (the risk appears after 65 years, and after 85 increases to 50%);
Down syndrome;
gender (women get sick much more often);

Women suffer from this disease much more often

previous head injury;
heart problems;
presence of cognitive impairment;
family history and genetics.

Clinical picture

Alzheimer's disease begins approximately 8-14 years before the onset of the first obvious signs, the clinical picture is dominated by memory impairment.

It is customary to distinguish 4 stages of Alzheimer's disease.

Stage I – Predementia.

Relatively long stage - can last several years. Early symptoms resemble natural changes caused by aging or the body's response to recent stress. At this stage, Alzheimer's syndrome is rarely diagnosed, since the symptoms will not be particularly noticeable:

apathy;
memory impairment;

Memory impairment is one of the symptoms of the disease

absent-mindedness;
difficulty perceiving information;
violation of semantic memory (i.e. a person forgets what a particular word means).

It is this condition that is popularly called “senile insanity” or “sclerosis,” while sclerosis has nothing to do with memory deterioration, and insanity is the absolute cessation of any mental activity.

Stage II – Early dementia.

At this stage, the signs of the syndrome become more obvious, and it seems possible to make an accurate diagnosis. Memory disorders are getting worse, but a significant problem now is impaired motor activity and the inability to formulate and express one’s own thoughts. The person, however, is still able to perform simple tasks independently, sometimes with prompting or assistance. Characteristic features will be:

impaired or poor speech;
deterioration or loss of hidden memory (the patient may forget what he learned unconsciously, the so-called “body memory”);
violation of purposeful movements.

Signs of Alzheimer's disease

Stage III – Moderate dementia.

The person experiences significant difficulty in performing simple everyday tasks and almost always requires outside help. The patient's mood is unstable, he may also not recognize his loved ones. Sometimes patients leave home. The longest stage in the development of the disease. At this stage the following are observed:

enuresis;
emotional instability;
attacks of aggression;
rave;
impairment of long-term memory;
tendency to wander.

Caring for an emotionally unstable patient is extremely difficult. Often relatives who are bound by such obligations themselves experience stress or become depressed. Placing a patient with Alzheimer's syndrome in a specialized institution makes life easier not only for relatives, but also for the patient himself, since there he will be under constant medical supervision.

Impaired long-term memory is one of the symptoms of the disease

Stage IV – Severe or profound dementia.

The patient cannot perform any activities without outside help. Since physical activity minimal, development of cachexia or dystrophy is observed individual organs and parts of the body or the whole organism. Speech is shortened to individual sounds However, sometimes the patient retains the ability to express primitive emotions. Over time, the ability to move completely disappears. Symptoms:

weight loss;
violation of the swallowing reflex;
increasing sleep duration;
convulsions;
inarticulate moaning, moaning instead of speech.

Forecast

Alzheimer's syndrome has degenerative tendencies; the prognosis and life expectancy for this disease are extremely pessimistic. Thus, life expectancy after the onset of the disease is on average 8-10 years. Sometimes patients with this diagnosis live up to 15 years.

Alzheimer's disease is currently an incurable disease; treatment is limited to therapy for cognitive impairment and antipsychotics for aggressive patients. However, taking these drugs increases the risk of death.

Alzheimer's disease itself rarely causes death. Most often, patients die from complications that develop in a weakened body, which occur after:

pneumonia;
influenza and other diseases from the ARVI group;
abscesses;
bedsores.

However, in some cases, death occurs due to extensive damage to the brain, which leads to the gradual failure of all body systems.

Scientists around the world are actively developing drugs that could cure patients or at least somewhat delay the progression of the disease.

The symptoms of senile dementia were first described in 1907; in most cases, the disease affects older people. True, such cases are extremely rare. There is still no consensus among doctors about Alzheimer's disease in relatively young people.

Some believe that their pathological and clinical signs are identical, the latter are of the opinion that there are significant etiological differences. After lengthy discussions, it was decided to recognize the disease as one, regardless of the patient’s age; the main criterion for diagnosis is the presence of symptoms and neuropathological signs. The exact reasons for the development of the disease are still unknown to science.

This is the very first hypothesis; the appearance of the disease is explained by a significant decrease in the body’s production of a neurotransmitter.

Currently adheres to it small quantity doctors. This is explained by the fact that medications that were created taking into account the hypothesis have shown their low effectiveness, and in some cases even complete absence clinical result. However, in developing countries they still use methods of maintenance therapy developed on its basis, recommended medical supplies partially correct the deficiency of acetylcholine in the body.

Amyloid version

The main cause of the disease is considered to be deposits of beta-amyloid on chromosome 21. A practical confirmation of the correctness of the theory is that all patients suffering from Down syndrome and living to be forty years old have a copy of this chromosome. People diagnosed with the disease have the same changes at the chromosome level.

An experimental vaccine was created; it effectively cleared the human brain of amyloid deposits, but this did not have a noticeable effect on the course of the disease. Studies have convincingly proven that excessive accumulation of amyloid in brain tissue occurs even at the earliest stages. early stages when symptoms are completely absent.

The amyloid hypothesis is not currently considered the main one; it cannot explain which factor triggers the process of beta-amyloid accumulation, what effect it has on tau protein, and what methods can be used to prevent it or at least significantly reduce the rate.

Tau hypothesis

Considers the most probable cause pathologies in the structure of tau protein. The resulting strands of hyperphosphorylated protein are gradually connected to each other. As a result, transport pathways along nerve cells are disrupted, and neurofibrillary tangles arise within a large volume of the brain. First, biological transmission routes are disrupted nerve impulses, and then nerve cells begin to die. The brain loses its main physiological functions, not only memory suffers, but also the ability to think and speak. Gradually everything in life ceases to be controlled important organs, which leads to death.

Medicine cannot completely link the occurrence of a disease with genetic predisposition, heredity, or the influence of external factors of a mental or traumatic nature.

Stages of development

The course of the disease is divided into four stages, each characterized by noticeable disturbances in the patient’s behavior and a separate picture of functional and cognitive impairment.

This condition is sometimes confused with normal aging, during which memory, motor functions and mental abilities decline as a result of natural physiological changes in the body. The initial stage can only be detected after detailed testing, and there are cases where the diagnosis was made eight years before the appearance of obvious signs of Alzheimer's disease.

It becomes difficult for the patient to do the simplest everyday work, it is difficult for him to remember information recently received, and it takes more effort and time to remember. Opportunities are decreasing abstract thinking, difficulties arise while planning the daily routine, slight apathy appears, etc.

The disease progresses constantly; over time, not only memory gaps develop, but also speech disorders, problems with motor functions. At the same time, episodic (old memories), semantic (facts learned in youth) and implicit (body movements) memory suffers to a lesser extent.

The disease manifests itself in a depletion of vocabulary, problems with writing and expressing one’s thoughts. The sick person reacts more or less normally and adequately to simple concepts, but it is already difficult for him to plan his actions for the future.

There is a further decrease in the ability to act independently and analyze events, obvious speech disorders appear, misuse words Coordination and motor reflexes deteriorate significantly, making it difficult for the patient to independently cope with many daily tasks. Writing and reading skills can be completely canceled, the sick person has difficulty or completely does not recognize relatives and friends, and long-term memory degrades.

Irritability often occurs, the patient cries for no reason, and may leave the house. Attempts to help perform certain movements may encounter aggressive resistance, and the physiological functionality of the hip organs is disrupted.

Moderate dementia - ability to function independently is reduced

The patient is no longer able to cope without outside help; he has difficulty pronouncing only individual words, often completely unrelated in meaning to each other. Communication becomes only emotional; he can only facially show satisfaction or irritation. Apathy becomes permanent, muscle mass is quickly lost. Over time, the ability to move completely disappears, and then digestive reactions disappear. Fatal outcome becomes inevitable, the cause of death is the consequences of prolonged immobility.

What are the first symptoms that should alert you?

As already mentioned, effective methods There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease; medicine in its arsenal only has supportive medications and recommendations for moral support for patients. But early diagnosis makes it possible to increase the time of comfortable quality of life.

What are the first symptoms?

Memory problems. You should not be alarmed if some events are sometimes forgotten, but you should be wary when such cases become noticeably more frequent. If to remember even the most important dates If you have to use notes in a notebook or on electronic media, you should consult a doctor.
Ordinary planning of your day is difficult. Implementation becomes more difficult ordinary tasks, it is difficult to concentrate on a specific job. What was previously done without any effort began to take much longer.
Loss of connection between time and place. While walking, the patient may suddenly wake up and not understand where he is and how he got here. There are problems with orientation in time; a person can get lost in a well-known place.
The perception of visual images is impaired, it becomes difficult to read and write. Sometimes it is difficult to determine the color and see the difference between its shades.
It is difficult to have conversations even on previously familiar topics; in the midst of a discussion, a person may become silent for no reason, and then not remember what was discussed. The vocabulary decreases, synonyms are difficult to find.

Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in the early stages of development

Timely and correct diagnosis the disease greatly increases the period of quality life and can prepare the patient and his loved ones for inevitable changes in behavior and loss of mental abilities. People prepare themselves for pathologies in behavior, treat each other calmly, provide timely and unobtrusive assistance to various stages development.

As soon as the above-described changes in brain activity are detected, the patient mandatory must visit a doctor. As a rule, the initial diagnosis of the disease can be made after a thorough examination of the life history and observed abnormalities. Hereditary diseases are of interest.

Close relatives, family members and colleagues are invited to talk with the doctor. In some cases, such communication is carried out without the knowledge of the sick person; everything depends on his ability to adequately and without panic respond to the diagnosis. They notice disturbances most of all and can provide the doctor with objective information about changes in the patient’s behavior, the level of his daily independent activity and changes in mental capabilities.

For a more accurate diagnosis, special testing is carried out; questions are developed by several specialists in their field of medicine.

The answers are compared with existing standardized ones diagnostic criteria. In cases where certain doubts arise, the patient is recommended to undergo more complex methods medical examinations: positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance or single photon tomography. The most accurate diagnosis initial stages determined after confirmation of cognitive pathologies based on the results of neuropsychological tests. To definitively confirm the disease, a histopathological analysis of brain tissue must be done.

Disease prevention

Conducted scientific research in order to find out the cause of the disease, they give very mixed results. At the same time, many doctors name among the preventive factors:

pathologies of the heart and blood vessels. Especially diseases associated with impaired vascular functionality, problems with metabolic processes;
poor nutrition. This applies not only to problems arising from obesity, but also to excessive amounts or critical deficiencies of certain nutrients and microelements;
brain activity. The more older people read, write, communicate, become interested in various events and enter into debates, the better their neurons work;
abuse medicines. This problem also affects older people; it is they who begin to take an increased amount of different medications. Some of them have already been confirmed negative influence on the functioning of the nervous system, others are currently considered safe. But no one can guarantee that through certain time their safety will not be in doubt.

In assessing the likelihood of disease, much attention is paid to nutrition. It is recommended to consume more vegetables and fruits raw, sea fish, vegetable oil. Caprylic acid, present in vegetable oil, can reduce the percentage of amyloid plaques in brain neurons. During metabolism, safe substances are formed ketone bodies who take an active part in life important processes brain cells.

All methods used medical therapy are palliative in nature; drugs that can reverse or slow down the course of the disease have not been developed. Patients are sometimes prescribed inhibitors that increase neuronal activity.

The concentration of acetylcholine increases, compensating for the decrease in the number of cholinergic neurons. There is some evidence of a certain effectiveness of these drugs in the first stages, but, unfortunately, they have negative consequences. Pharmacological effect can enhance psychosocial support. The active influence on the emotional behavior of the patient has a positive effect.

Under this term, doctors introduced into the 21st century a disease that has long been known among the people under a less euphonious name - “ bitch udder ». Medical name diseases - hidradenitis or purulent inflammation sweat glands

Previously, inflammation covered only the perineal area, the isola, popliteal or armpits. Now the disease often appears on the palms of gamers who do not look away from the keys and joystick for at least 8 hours a day.

To adolescence the disease does not occur - the sweat glands are activated at the time of hormonal maturation, young people from 13-14 to 35-37 years old suffer from the disease. How to help those who suffer from Gamer's disease, is it curable?

New - unforgotten old

Symptoms of Geimer's disease increase gradually:

the palms are swollen, the swelling is local at first - on the fingertips, then spreads to the entire palm;
the skin on the hands turns purple;
When pressed, compactions are felt under the skin - infiltrates.

For more late stage diseases, at the sites of compaction, ulcers first form, and then weeping ulcers - the ulcers open spontaneously.

The symptoms of the disease, which has been known since the 13th century, are all the same, only the localization of abscesses has moved from the groin folds to the fingers and palms.

Causes of Geimer's disease:

Staphylococcus aureus;
streptococcus;
coli.

They enter the sweat glands from the surface of the skin or are brought in from the inside if there is a source of inflammation in the body.

The tendency to Heimer's disease can be passed on from generation to generation - the skin type with short and enlarged sweat glands is inherited.

There are 2 types of sweat glands in humans:

Apocrine. They are located under the arms, around the nipples, near the anus and in the groin. The sweat released from them is thicker, with strong odor and has a whitish color - it contains a certain amount of fat and cholesterol;
Eccrine. They are located over the entire surface of the skin and produce clear sweat with a faint odor, which occurs due to lactic acid - it protects the skin from bacteria and fungal infection.

Apocrine sweat glands increase sweat production in stressful situations- when overexcited, eccrine - when overheated. Hidradenitis is susceptible - as previously thought - only to the apocrine glands, since sweat secretions have an alkaline environment, which pathogens are not afraid of.

The disease is uncharacteristic for the eccrine glands, since the sweat they produce contains lactic acid bacteria - the main protection against the introduction of pathogens. Those who spend 24 hours a day at the computer don’t think about it at all. immune status body, they do not walk, do not eat on time, and neglect the rules of personal hygiene.

Due to the increased production of hormones, which are subsequently wasted - motor activity low, there is no communication with the opposite sex - the secretion produced has changed its qualities.

On the keyboard keys and on the joystick, which no one wipes or washes, much less treats with an antiseptic, pathogenic flora accumulates in large quantities. After its introduction into the upper layer of the epidermis through the sweat glands, inflammatory process.

People of the Negroid race suffer especially badly - they have Geimer's disease 3 times more often, in the 21st century the disease was first identified in them.

About Hidradenitis

The risk of hidradenitis palmaris is increased in people with low immune status.

The disease develops according to the following algorithm:

The sweat gland becomes clogged, a horny plug is formed in it from the secretion of the glands and desquamated epithelium;
This plug is pressing on the inside sweat gland, expanding it, the bacteria that entered along with the epithelium begin to multiply rapidly, since they were formed for their development favorable conditions. The secretion continues to be produced, increasing the activity of pathogenic flora;
Inflammation begins;
Under the influence of purulent contents, the membrane of the gland ruptures, the infection enters the surrounding tissues;
The body begins to fight the inflammatory process, forming connective tissue a barrier that limits the purulent cavity.

If the cavity is opened again, then fibrin begins to be deposited on its walls after the release of purulent discharge, and fistula tracts, through which pus is also released.

The disease is accompanied by general intoxication of the body - the most susceptible to damage is nervous system. The patient feels general weakness, lethargy, headache and insomnia. The temperature may rise.

Diagnosis of the disease

The diagnosis is quite easy to establish. A superficial examination and questioning of the patient about the nature of the developing inflammation is sufficient. A bacteriological examination is required - a scraping smear is taken from the surface of the skin to identify the type of pathogen and more accurately prescribe treatment.

Comprehensive therapy - includes the following activities:

a diet excluding fatty, hot and spicy foods, carbonated drinks and sweets;
compliance with personal hygiene rules;
increased physical activity;
normalization of work and rest regimes;
drug treatment.

Drug treatment and surgery

In severe cases - with general intoxication of the body - antibiotics are prescribed or antifungal drugs depending on the type of pathogen. Sometimes anthelmintics are required.

Antihistamines and immunocorrectors are used. Well intensive care usually lasts 3 days. The affected areas are treated with local action, having anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties. For multiple lesions, bandages are applied.

For speedy recovery the menu should include fruits, vegetables and cereals - food, rich in fiber and vitamins, fermented milk products And food additives with brewer's yeast. To restore the functioning of the sweat glands and speedy skin regeneration, physiotherapy is included: ultraviolet irradiation, high frequency and microwave therapy.

If the inflammatory process does not go away after 3 days of treatment, surgical intervention is resorted to.

Depending on the clinical picture, various types of operations are performed:

The area with the abscess is opened, the purulent contents are removed, the wound is washed and further treated until complete healing;
The sweat gland is removed and fibrous tissue and fistulas are excised;
If the inflammatory process has caused the appearance of many small abscesses, then it is necessary to excise the tissue along with the layer subcutaneous tissue. Autohemotherapy and skin grafting from another part of the body may be required. This operation is performed under general anesthesia.