Brain Knots and Seizures

Consider your brain to be the command center of your body. Your brain weighs approximately 3 pounds and is composed of the cerebrum, cerebellum and the brain stem. Your brain helps you plan your next move. Your brain can solve problems, visualize abstract shapes and calculate your well-being. Yet when you get older, your brain may acquire knots and plaque. You can test yourself for the early signs of Alzheimer's disease.

Early Signs of Alzheimer's Disease

• Nerve cells

  Your neurotransmitters send signals through your nervous system with a small electric charge. Your nerves connect at a synapse, where a small burst of neurotransmitters is sent across the synapse to the opposite nerve. This process may gradually deteriorate with Alzheimer's disease. With Alzheimer's disease, your nerves may wither, and the connectivity may decrease. Positron Emission Tomography (PET scan) can produce a medical image of your brain in the process of thinking, speaking and listening to music. People who suffer from the early signs of Alzheimer's disease will experience a disruption in their patterns of thought.

Acetylcholine and Alzheimer's

• Acetylcholine as a supplement

  Science has shown us that a decrease in the small proteins called nerve growth factors may lead to Alzheimer's disease. As your nerve growth factors decrease with age, you may consider testing yourself for Alzheimer's disease. Your brain produces the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and a decrease in acetylcholine occurs in Alzheimer's disease. Most treatments of Alzheimer's will consider the goal of improving your levels of acetylcholine. Fortunately, acetylcholine is available as a supplement at most vitamin shops.

Knots and Plaques

• Knots

  With Alzheimer's disease the brain may decrease in size, the amount of nerve cells may lessen, and the ventricles that are filled with fluid become larger. Tangles of dying nerve cells may form in your brain, and these knots are made of twisted protein. Your brain may also have plaques, which are made of protein fragments. These protein fragments are made up of the peptide called amyloid-beta (AB), which may cause gumming of the synapses. Tangles occur in cell transport systems when a protein called tau decreases and tangles occur in the strands.

Silent Seizures

• From wonder to inhibition

  Alzheimer's patients experience silent seizures, where their moods may swing from wonderful to repressed. These silent seizures are nonconvulsive petit mal seizures, which are similar to a mild epilepsy. Lennart Mucke, director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease at the University of California, San Francisco, says the hippocampus may clamp down after overexcitation, and a silent seizure may occur due to the inhibitory cells halting the excitations. Using electroencephalography (EEG), the scientists measured neural signals from the hippocampus to the neocortex and found the clenching effect that makes up the silent seizures.

Progression of Alzheimer's

• Pattern of Development

  Alzenheimer's progresses from the early to the middle stages of the disease with a predictable pattern of development. Medical images show the disease spreading outward from its origin in the center of the brain. Without supplementation of the phospholipid called phosphatidylcholine (PPC), the prognosis for Alzheimer's is a gradual deterioration of mental health. This may occur in an 8- to 20-year period of time. People who have Alzheimer's may have trouble speaking clearly and recognizing what is being said to them. They may also have difficulty estimating distances around themselves. In the final stages of severe Alzheimer's, they may have difficulty speaking, and recognizing their family and others around them.

Alzenheimer's and Lecithin

• Lecithin liquid gels

  An inexpensive treatment for Alzheimer's is supplementation with phosphatidylcholine (PPC), which is found in lecithin. Lecithin is a fatty substance found in egg yolk. Sometimes the older person will say she just can't afford expensive treatments for Alzheimer's. You may be happy to find out that phosphatidylcholine (PPC) is available at the drugstore in the form of lecithin at an affordable price. These liquid gels can provide a natural approach to treating the early symptoms of Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's Prescriptions

• Cognex for Alzheimer's

  If you prefer a prescription drug for Alzheimer's, several drugs are available. You can ask your doctor for Cognex, a popular prescription drug in the United States. You can take Cognex four times a day. Possible side effects from Cognex may be nausea and vomiting. Be sure to follow your doctor's and pharmacist's recommendations. Your doctor may prescribe Donepezil, a medication for Alzheimer's that may have fewer side effects than Cognex. You can take Donepezil once a day. Rivastigmine is another Alzheimer's prescription. You can begin with a low dose and work your way up to a larger dose. Rivastigmine also has the possible side effects of nausea and vomiting.