Alzheimer's And Dementia On The Brain

The Effects of Alzheimer's and Dementia on the Brain
My friend and her family are currently through a trying time now. Her grandfather does not know who she is; He is combative and confused, it hurts them to see him like this, he is not himself. Her father does not recognize his own father (Davis). This is Dementia. It does not only affect the patient, it affects the people around him. The question is how does Dementia and Alzheimer’s affect the brain?
In 1999 the number of 4 million with Alzheimer’s Disease was expected to triple by 2020.(Altman). 5.3 million people in the United States are affected by Alzheimer's, 5.1 million are age 65 and older, 200,000 are under 65 and, two-thirds of the affected are women, it’s the 6th leading cause
In an interview(by email) I asked: What are some of the things your loved one says when you go to visit him? Does he/she know your name and who you are, and does he get it right every time you go to see him? How does it affect your family? This person's response was: “His first reaction is to be angry at my father. He cusses and continuously blames my father for the fact that he is in a nursing home, even though he has alcohol-induced dementia. He still recognizes some of us, but he will always stare at me and say my name wrong because apparently I look just like my grandmother when she was my age. He knows who I am, but me and my sister are said to look exactly alike so he calls me by her name. Most of the time he knows I'm the youngest but still gets my name wrong due to similarities between me and other people. It has had extremely negative effects over time. Most people don't know how dementia works and assumes that when the person has a good day the rest of the days will be good and that is NOT the case. We've had financial problems, emotional problems with my father because his father curses him out every time he sees him, and his family assumes he is just putting my grandfather in a rest home to steal his money. Over time people have learned that it is serious, but that won't stop them from sneaking alcohol into his room and doing other things, not knowing it is only making my grandfather worse. He has been moved from facility to facility in the past three years, and this time he was moved to Charlotte due to his behavior. Our visits have changed from every two weeks, to almost once every two or three months. It takes a toll on the whole family and has caused some extreme stress not only on my father, but on me and everyone else as well” (Davis). Dementia and Alzheimer’s does not only affect the person who has it but is also affects the ones around