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Alzheimers Disease & Prevention

You can control some of the risk factors for Alzheimer's disease, ranging from not smoking to trying to maintain a high level of mental acuity. Should you begin to show Alzheimer's symptoms, medications can slow the progress of mental and physical decline.

  1. Symptoms

    • People with Alzheimer's suffer from disorientation, memory loss, trouble expressing their thoughts, loss of skills and mood swings. These symptoms can lead patients to become depressed, angry, socially withdrawn and distrustful.

    Controllable Risk Factors

    • Having cardiovascular disease places people at increased risk for developing Alzheimer's disease. So does suffering a brain injury, smoking, drinking too much alcohol and carrying excess body weight.

    Physical Prevention

    • Preventing Alzheimer's disease largely comes down to preventing cardiovascular disease, according to experts polled by the Alzheimer's Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Eating healthful food, reducing alcohol use and exercising regularly can help people avoid or delay Alzheimer's.

    Mental Prevention

    • Staying socially and mentally engaged slows the decline of brain function. A fact sheet from the Mayo Clinic notes, "lifelong mental exercise and learning may promote the growth of additional synapses, the connections between neurons, and delay the onset of dementia."

    Treatment

    • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Aricept (donepezil from Esai and Pfizer), Cognex (tacrine from Sciele), Exelon (rivastigmine from Novartis), Namenda (memantine from Forest), and Razadyne (galantamine from Ortho-McNeil-Janssen) for treating Alzheimer's disease. Depending on their symptoms, some patients might also benefit from taking antidepressants and antianxiety medications.

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