Alzheimer is a progressive mental illness that has been detected that it can be linked to conditions such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension and that is being presented in increasingly young people.
Within the framework of World Alzheimer's Day, which is celebrated every September 21, Guadalupe del Pozo, president of the Potosina Alzheimer's Association and similar diseases, said that this evil affects older adults, but in recent years they have presentedin children under 50, mainly in those who have hereditary history.
When abounding on the subject, the specialist said that it is estimated that around 30 thousand people could suffer from some dementia in San Luis Potosí and among them Alzheimer's disease, according to data from the aforementioned association.
He said that Alzheimer's disease, thus called by the pathologist and psychiatrist Alois Alheimer, is the most common way of dementia, characterized by the loss of memory and other intellectual skills so severe that he interferes with the daily life of the individual.
He stressed that according to the Mexican Association of Alzheimer's and researchers, this condition may be linked to diabetes, obesity and hypertension, so "people who suffer from it could develop it more quickly."
He warned that it is an incurable chronic degenerative disease and only its effects with medications can be delayed.
Therefore, Del Pozo highlighted the importance of self -care from youth where exercise and good food must be included that will result in a healthier life and can inhibit or delay the appearance of the disease.
The expert explained that the main symptoms, so the family can realize that someone could suffer from Alzheimer's disease are the loss of memory.
Although, he said, there are cases where others appear such as confusion, difficulty in language, errors in their daily routines such as putting the shoes upside down or underwear above a pants.
When these changes in the family begin to notice, coupled to see them depressed and sad, it is important to bring them closer to a trained doctor as a neurologist, psychiatrist, geriatrician or internist.
The specialist will be the one who will evaluate these behaviors and give a diagnosis relying on image studies such as tomographs, magnetic resonances among others, only this can be confirmed whether it is Alzheimer's or other disease, he said.
In that sense, said the specialist that there are other diseases that could be confused with Alzheimer's.
That is why he highlighted the importance of providing a precise diagnosis through various clinical studies to rule out thyroid, stress, deep depression, lack of vitamin B or dementia caused by cerebrovascular disease that have similar symptoms.
"Before dementia was known as senile dementia, it is a term that is currently no longer in use, all dementias already have a name cerebral vascular dementia, dementia by multi -infarcts and others less known as dementia with Lewy bodies, among others", said.
This is why it is necessary that the family be attentive to any change presented by older adults and that they receive immediate attention, especially when they are in the first stage of disease development, here can still be done a lot for them, he said.
Del Pozo said that relatives' treatment and care is of the utmost importance, a daily and continuous stimulation is required in addition to physical exercise and special food.
As well as "always involving it with the family and socializing it, this identifies the disease process that is what is finally sought in the early stages."
He said it is transcendental to keeppatient, put it to perform activities of the house where he feels useful and supports the family. "
He argued that "the worst that can be done with them is to sit down to watch television and leave them, this will completely lose their ability to communicate and perform daily activities."
He added that in the third and final stage of the disease, the patient stops speaking and moving, is absent from reality, no longer responds to any stimulus and cannot take care of himself, loses the notion of danger and everything learnedPreviously, they are regularly prostrated in a bed.
Even so, much can be done for them, in the first place you have to avoid muscle contractures and for this it is necessary to exercise it to keep their joints elastic, mobilize it every two hours to avoid crafts.
Also, talk to him and explain what happens at all times "today is May 1, he is your grandson or your son and things like that"
Dr. Guadalupe del Pozo pointed out that Alzheimer's is a very exhausting disease for both the patient and their relatives and caregivers.
In addition, "it is of a very high cost due to the amount of actions and expenses that it entails, especially for those who are not right -holders of some health system."
He added that "during the disease, a lot of patience and understanding are required by the family to be able to attend them, since at this stage they depend totally on family support to attend it, feed it and help you with all your needs."
Finally, he stressed that to this day there have been great scientific advances about Alzheimer's disease.
Here in San Luis Potosí there are a group of researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, led by Dr. Ildefonso Rodríguez Leyva and Dr. María Esther Jiménez Cataño, who have studied the ways to detect in stagesPrevious this disease.
The research project of this group in the early detection of Alzheimer's has been able to conclude that proteins that are very well characterized in a patient's brain with the disease can also be found in the skin of any human being, he said.
"Researchers are about to announce the new advances of the project where through the oral mucosa, that is, saliva, now Alzheimer's disease can also be detected, which represents a great achievement of medicine, because before you could only confirmThrough a biopsy he throws in the patient's brain once he had already died, "he said.
According to the Ministry of Health, the syndrome affects more than five percent of adults over 65 and more than 30 percent of those who exceed 80.
It is also more frequent in women than in men due to hormonal problems such as estrogenic changes that can trigger such condition, while it is expected that in the next decade, six out of 10 adults suffer from the disease.
