Senior Living: Understanding Alzheimer’s disease and living a fulfilling life after diagnosis
Your body and mind go through many different changes as you age. Most older adults will begin to experience some form of normal age-related changes in thinking and memory, however, some experience more severe forms of memory loss, called dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Association , dementia is a general term for loss of memory, language, problem-solving and other thinking abilities that are severe enough to interfere with daily life. Dementia isn’t a single disease, it is an overall term that covers a range of medical conditions. Omid Omidvar, M.D. (Courtesy of MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center) The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for 60% to 80% of all dementia cases. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease that begins with mild memory loss and gradually worsens over the years due to irreversible loss of function in the brain. The greatest known risk factor for Alzheimer’s is increasing age. Most people with...