We are an organization dedicated to helping the caregivers of dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. It is our mission to get you the right information, and keep you up to date on everything in the Alzheimer’s world. We are devoted to making your caregiving experience as easy and as rewarding as possible.

The Alzheimer’s Research Association does not intend for our organization to be in competition with the various organizations that dedicate themselves to the race for a cure, but to complement them by focusing our efforts on the caregiver.

Translational research creates a bridge between basic research and clinical research, allowing knowledge from the laboratory to be applied as quickly as possible to new clinical tests or interventions. In fact, translational research is where new drugs, devices, or behavioral interventions aimed at preventing, diagnosing, or treating a disease such as Alzheimer’s are actually created. Translational research makes it possible for scientists who conduct basic research on Alzheimer’s to work more closely with experts whose focus is on treating people. This collaboration is important to developing safe and effective treatments.

Basic biomedical research involves studies at the most fundamental level. It is research that helps scientists gain new knowledge about a disease process, including how and why it starts and progresses. Scientists who conduct basic research on Alzheimer’s disease study the cellular and molecular processes that cause nerve cells in the brain to stop functioning and die. Basic research also looks at the role that genes may play in lowering or increasing a person’s risk of developing the disease. The aim of basic research is to identify the processes that lead to Alzheimer’s in order to discover therapies to fight it.

No treatment can stop Alzheimer’s disease. However, four drugs are used to treat symptoms of the disease. They may help maintain thinking, memory, and speaking skills and help with some behavioral problems for a limited time. These drugs work by regulating certain chemicals in the brain.

For people with mild or moderate Alzheimer’s, donepezil (Aricept®), rivastigmine (Exelon®), or galantamine (Razadyne®) may help prevent some symptoms from becoming worse for a limited time. Donepezil is also approved for symptoms of moderate to severe Alzheimer’s. Another drug, memantine (Namenda®), is used to treat symptoms of moderate to severe Alzheimer’s, although it is also limited in its effects.

All of these drugs have possible side effects, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. You should report any unusual symptoms to a doctor right away. It is important to follow a doctor’s instructions when taking any medication.

The course of Alzheimer’s disease — which symptoms appear and how quickly changes occur — varies from person to person. In general, though, the disease develops slowly and follows the same mild, moderate, and severe stages.

At first, the only symptom may be forgetfulness. People with mild Alzheimer’s may be unable to remember recent events, ask the same question over and over, and become lost in familiar places. A person may seem healthy but is actually having more and more trouble making sense of the world around him or her. Such difficulties could be due to Alzheimer’s disease or another condition. A doctor should be consulted to make a diagnosis.

As the disease goes on, memory gets worse. People may have problems recognizing family and friends. It can be hard to learn new things. People in this moderate stage of Alzheimer’s may behave differently, too. For example, they might be restless, agitated, or angry, or they may wander.

As Alzheimer’s disease becomes more severe, people lose the ability to communicate. They may sleep more, lose weight, and have trouble swallowing. Often they cannot control their bladder and bowel. Eventually, they need total care.

The time from diagnosis of Alzheimer’s to the end of life varies, and can be as little as three years if the person is over 80 years old when diagnosed, or as long as ten years—or more—if the person is younger than 80 when diagnosed.

Today, the only definitive way to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease is to find out whether there are plaques and tangles in brain tissue. To look at brain tissue, doctors perform a brain autopsy, which is an examination of the brain done after a person dies.

Doctors can only make a diagnosis of “possible” or “probable” Alzheimer’s disease while a person is alive. Doctors with special training can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease correctly up to 90 percent of the time. These include board-certified geriatricians, geriatric psychiatrists, and neurologists. (A geriatrician specializes in treatment of older adults, and a neurologist specializes in brain and nervous system disorders.)

Doctors use several tools to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease:

• a complete medical history, with questions about the person’s general health, past medical problems, family health, and any difficulties carrying out daily activities
• medical tests, such as tests of blood, urine, or spinal fluid
• tests to measure memory, problem solving, attention, counting, and language skills
• brain scans that allow the doctor to look at a picture of the brain to see if anything does not look normal