Find it early, prevent early!Doctor: Alzheimer's disease is not "old -fashioned"

When it comes to Alzheimer's disease, perhaps, when you see it, it is in the tracing notes that reposted the streets and lanes and the circle of friends. Perhaps, in the cognition of ordinary people, it also has another name that sounds more familiar, "Alzheimer's."

September 21st is the World of Alzheimer's disease. Red Star reporter interviewed Guo Jian, associate professor of neurology at the Huaxi Hospital of Sichuan University and director of the Department of Neurology, Huaxi Tianfu Hospital of Sichuan University, to answer us how to correctly understand Alzheimer's disease.

▲ An old man with Alzheimer's disease is playing intellectual toys. Visual China

Alzheimer's disease is not "old -fashioned"

Many people's understanding of Alzheimer's disease stays at the "old confused" level. Well, they all want to be old, and they can't remember things and confused when they are old.

This is a misunderstanding. Guo Jian said that people are in the process of gradually aging, and there is a natural law, but Alzheimer's disease is different.

"Alzheimer's disease, a simple understanding is a disease of excessive aging of the nervous system, degenerative lesions of the central nervous system, which leads to a serious decline in cognitive function." Guo Jian said that "in charge" of brain behavior and emotional awareness The brain cells have degenerate lesions and gradually die, and these brain cells are "disposable" and cannot recover from renewable.

Although most of the patients with Alzheimer's disease are the elderly, they may also appear on relatively young patients. Guo Jian explained that, for example, forty or fifty years old, in young and middle -aged, belongs to the source of family income. After such a crowd, the premature aging is not just about losing the labor force to create value for society and family. Some patients will completely lose their ability to take care of themselves between 5 and 10 years and require family members to take care of them. "Clinically, there are even young patients in their 30s."

In addition to the increase of the disease of Alzheimer's disease with age, the increase in environmental factors, family genetic defects, patients themselves have risk factors such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, or long -term smoking, which also affects The risk factors of Alzheimer's disease.

So how to distinguish between normal aging and Alzheimer's disease? Guo Jian said that the memory of normal aging decreases and slowly react. Although the cognitive function has decreased, it will basically not affect the self -care ability of life, and the autonomous life is generally unlimited. However, if Alzheimer's patients do not intervene in time, they will gradually lose their ability to take care of their own self -care and social activities between 5 and 10 years after diagnosis. "This is also one of the diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease." Guo Jian said.

How to discover and prevent early?

Although Alzheimer's disease does not directly lead to the death of patients, it is an important factor that causes death of elderly patients.

"In the late stage of disease, patients seriously lost their ability to take care of their own self -care, and even stayed in bed for a long time. A series of complications followed." Guo Jian said. Due to memory decline and abnormal behavior, the patients were "run away from home", and there were not a few incidents of accidental death.

Alzheimer's disease and other diseases should be discovered and prevented early. "If you find it early in the disease and intervene as soon as possible, you can effectively delay the arrival of comprehensive disability." Guo Jian said that this is also a great benefit for families and society.

But just as people always confuse Alzheimer's disease with "old confusion", the disease is also "hidden". How can it be judged that it is just a normal aging or a disease factor? Guo Jian said that in response to people who are older, cognitive functions and memory ability have declined, "especially forgotten by recent things." Some patients may have more obvious mental symptoms, such as hallucinations, hallucinations, or listening, or they are The obvious "different" behavior and thinking need to be vigilant about Alzheimer's disease.

The decline in living ability is also a significant sign, "Especially some fine behaviors, such as there is no problem with the previous account calculation, it is always right now, it was good to write and draw in the past, but now it is not as good as before." Guo Jian said, said that When the diagnosis is a decline in cognitive function and has not yet developed to the "dementia period", drug treatment must be considered, which can effectively delay the progress of the disease.

Red Star News reporter Yu Zun Su

Edit Chen Yixi

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