It is the most common type of dementia, accounting for roughly seventy percent of diagnosed cases, and it knows no boundries, being spread across different cultures and affecting both males and females in equal measure. Alzheimers disease can be extremely stressful for the victims family, who very often find themselves being in the front line when it comes to providing care and support. It ought to be remembered that the family member or members doing the caring will also need plenty of support.

Research shows that getting Alzheimer's is the biggest worry among US residents older than 55 years. Even cancer, which is perhaps the most feared affliction in the world, is not as feared as Alzheimer's by this demographic. Something about the idea of losing one's identity to dementia seems to terrify people even more than the thought of physical death. Among many of the elderly (and even among some younger individuals) the mere thought of this wasting illness of the mind is enough to send one into a state of complete panic. Unfortunately, the phobia of diseases that affect the brain can cloud people's minds, too. It, too, can interfere with normal living. Isn't there a way to keep one's fears under control, and enjoy one's sanity while one still can?

The steady onslaught of this dreaded disease affects both physical and emotional responses. As Alzheimer's progresses, individuals may also experience changes in personality and behavior, such as anxiety, suspiciousness or agitation, as well as delusions or hallucinations.Alzheimer's disease advances at widely different rates depending on the individual. The duration of the illness may vary from 3 to 20 years.The areas of the brain that control memory and thinking skills are affected first. Cells die that affect other regions of the brain.

Most Alzheimer's patients are diagnosed with the disease after a series of cognitive tests, behavioral assessments and a brain scan. Early symptoms of the disease include memory loss, confusion, irritability, aggression, mood swings, language problems, long-term memory loss and the depletion of the senses. The majority of patient live for roughly seven years after being diagnosed and only a handful live for 14 years following diagnosis.

Early signs of Alzheimer's disease can include subtle memory lapses and episodes of confusion over mundane activities, such as the rote motions associated with driving a car or cooking a familiar meal. Loss of simple words in conversation or forgetting names of familiar people, if occurring with increasing frequency, can be a symptom of impending dementia.

Alzheimer's diseases advances with varying speed in individual patients. Some studies indicate that a balanced, low-fat diet and regular exercise can delay the onset of the disease and slow its progression. The intelligence of the patient can also affect the speed of deterioration, with highly intelligent individuals appearing to be affected by the progressing dementia much more slowly than others, perhaps because such individuals unconsciously employ adaptive strategies to circumvent the obvious effects of the dementia, such as finding alternate words for more familiar ones that can't be recalled easily.

A qualified psychologist can administer a battery of psychological tests to a patient to determine with a fairly high degree of certainty whether the patient is in the early stages of dementia. These tests include simple things like asking the patient to draw the hands of a clock in the correct position for a given time of day, or asking the patient her age or what the season of the year is, or who is currently the president of the United States.