My Experience of Alzheimer's Disease

I know that this is the season to be jolly but it isn't always an option for everyone so I am going to bite the bullet and write what is possibly the most difficult review that I have ever written. I do not intend to go into any medical details here about what Alzheimer's is and how is develops - suffice it to say that it is a degenerative brain disease for which there is no cure. In July 2005 my wonderful dad finally lost his battle with Alzheimer's disease at the age of 81. I have already written a review telling you all about him as a person but now I am going to tell you how the disease affected him and what we did to help him. I am hoping that ...

I remember the last time my grandmother really spoke to me. I was 8 years old and about to board the train home to London from Manchester. " I love you and I really miss you, you know?" she said with tears in her eyes, holding my face in her hands. I was too young to understand what provoked this sudden sentimentality. However, when I travelled with my mother to visit her again 4 months later, it was plain that she did not recognise me at all. I now realise that moment at the train station was my grandmother saying goodbye to me. The poor lady knew that she was deteriorating fast and that by the time I was there, her mind would be gone. My Nan (as I ...

As we get older there are many disabling diseases which affect us, some affect our bodies and others our minds. Some can kill us instantly while others attack us slowly and progressively. This is about one of the later which unfortunately is one of the diseases which is very rarely talked about in everyday society but one which affects many thousands of people worldwide every year. This disease is Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is a brain degeneration disease which was discovered in 1906 by a German physician by the name of Dr. Alois Alzheimer. Although Alzheimer's is called a disease it is actually a dementia. A dementia is ...