Alzheimer’s Disease and Role of Homeopathy and Counselling

Introduction:

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly. More than 60% of the cases of dementia are due to this. Its prevalence is age related is as high as 47% in persons of 85 years above.

Definition:

It is a degenerative disorder of the cerebral cortex resulting in progressive senile dementia.

Causes and risk factors:

Genetic factors are considered important causes if the disease onset is before 65 years of age.
The main cause of this functional debility is the irreversible death of the brain cells due to deposition of protein plaques.
Environmental agents like viruses are also considered to be one of the causes, but, enough evidence has not been found in this respect.

Risk factors:

Advancing age is a risk factor, though; all elderly persons do not invariably show these features
Having as family history of the disease
Alcohol toxicity, previous head trauma and some immunological factors may also add to the risk of developing the disease

Screening diagnosis:

The disease has a very insidious onset and it progresses very gradually. It basically affects the emotion, intellect and memory of the person. It develops through 3 stages:

Stage 1

The memory of the person is affected in the initial stages. First, impairment of memory for recent happenings can be noticed which is later followed by impairment of long term memory also.
Patients themselves complain of the difficulty in the initial stages
Disorientation of time and place; he misidentifies things and people
He repeats his words again and again

Stage 2

Here, the patient denies that anything is wrong with him says that he is alright
Gradually, the person shows deterioration of his intellectual functions and certain personality changes occur. He may also develop problems pertaining to speech language
He may later develop aphasic syndrome (Lack of right word at the right time compels the patient to compensate by speaking around the subject- paraphasia - impoverished vocabulary- also that the patient can't convey his feelings due to fragmented words sentences -a mutism results.)
The person finds it difficult to wave his h to someone, greet someone or even to use a pen for writing
Visual agnosia develops (inability to comprehend what he sees). Due to these functional deficits, the person develops some psychiatric disturbances like: depression, aggression, anxiety, delusions, sleeplessness etc.

Stage 3

Finally, the person reaches a stage when he has to depend on others for his daily living activities
The person may develop self-care apraxia’s like: dressing, shaving, bathing, combing hair
Visual agnosia is followed by auditory, tactile agnosia’s.
In these advanced stages, even the musculature is affected. The patient walks in a shuffling manner with short steps. Stiffness of all the muscles leads to slowness and awkwardness of all the movements. The entire course of the illness is 5-8 years approximately. During the course of the illness, any coexistent illness worsens the condition of the patient acutely.

Diagnosis:

It is basically done by ruling out any other causes of cognitive disorders. Progressive worsening of memory and at least two areas of cognitive impairment. Onset between 40 years 90 years of age (mostly, after 65 years) the person should be in a state of normal arousal i.e. he should not be drowsy, or comatose or delirious.

Diagnosis is based on the order of the appearance of the symptoms can be supported by imaging techniques like: MRI, CT scan; which show enlargement of the ventricular space along with brain atrophy. But this is not confirmatory of Alzheimer's as such changes are also seen in most of the other people of this age group.

Environmental Structuring:

This means providing a safe, non-stimulating, environment to the patient which provides him with consistency comfort.

Patient Care:

For stage 1 patients, reality orientation is very helpful

For stage 2 patients, reality orientation is not possible; hence validation therapy is the best choice. Here, we should value support the patient's feelings thoughts

The patient should be encouraged to do self-care, exercise his other activities. His mental and emotional states, his other vital signs body functions should be assessed for any deterioration

We should keep in mind the patient's capabilities our expectations should not exceed his abilities to perform any tasks

We should speak to the patient calmly allow him sufficient time to reply as we understand that the thinking process of the patient has slowed down. He should also be referred to appropriate support groups, counseling groups etc.

Scope of Homeopathy:

If the treatment of Alzheimer's is started in the early stages with Homeopathy, encouraging results have been seen in the memory of the patient and preventing the development of symptoms concomitant with dementia like aggression, depression and anxiety.

Homeopathy helps to symptomatically relieve the patient by treating the symptoms of memory loss, anxiety and restlessness associated with the disease. It prevents the further progress of the disease by controlling the deterioration and damage of the brain cells but results vary from case to case.

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