Alzheimer’s disease is now the most common form of dementia in older people causing a progressive degeneration of the brain. Alzheimer’s is a disease that gradually causes a deterioration in the memory with diagnosis accuracy between 87 and 94 percent.

This is a complex disease and is still not fully understood, although the world has only focused its attention on this disease for over 30 years. Studies have shown that the greatest known risk for developing Alzheimer’s is increasing age. Unfortunately, the person experiencing the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s will know something is wrong but won’t admit it to others or even to themselves.

General measures for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease are the same as for all dementias. There is no definitive treatment at present, but some drugs improve the symptoms or stall their progression. The mental abilities of an Alzheimer’s disease sufferer can be improved anything up to six months with the use of prescribed medication like Donepezil, Tacrine, and Rivastigmine.

Another drug, Memantine, a derivative of the older anti-influenza drug Amantadine is proving successful at slowing down the mental decline of sufferers. More than 80 percent of the Memantine excreted are unchanged by the kidneys.

Alzheimer’s disease has become a major issue as it is already the fourth largest killer in the United States. Although contracting the disease is a tragedy, the cost of treatment and care for sufferers is causing economic vibrations. Currently there are hundreds of substances being tested for treatments around the world.

The only way to improve the risk of not developing dementia is to adjust the way you live and adopt a healthier lifestyle. In fact researchers believe the happier and healthier someone is with Alzheimer’s, the slower his or her decline. Fortunately this disease is still mainly affecting elderly people but there have been recent occasions where younger persons have developed this disease.