Monday, March 8, 2010

Can Testing for Alzheimer's Disease Be Done Using a Simple Word Test?

Yes, someone can use a word test when testing for Alzheimer's disease. You will be surprised to learn there is a relationship between Alzheimer's disease and word recall. Get out your paper, pen and stop watch. See how you do.

Early testing for Alzheimer's disease can have a huge impact. Catching it early has great benefits:

- Alzheimer's take years to develop. People in the early stages can add to the decision making. They can understand the drug options. They can have some control over their treatment.
- The existing drugs work best in the early stages. This may slow damage to the brain.
- Future drugs and treatment options. They may be able to prevent permanent damage to the brain as Alzheimer's advances.

As you can see, the sufferer can greatly improve their quality of life with this early knowledge. Through early testing for Alzheimer's disease and treatment, they could have a better quality of life for longer. They can be there for their loved ones longer. They can possibly delay or eliminate the need for a nursing home. The duration of the burden to care givers may be eased.

Scientists have found a pattern of word loss in Alzheimer's patients. This helps when testing for Alzheimer's disease. It is very consistent. Researchers believe they can identify it by testing for Alzheimer's disease through word loss alone. Patients will forget words they learned later in their lives. Words that they don't use very often.

There was a recent study done with Alzheimer's patients. They interviewed 96 people with the disease. Researchers also quizzed 40 healthy people. All were similar in age. They also had similar cultural and social backgrounds.

They were given the following simple word test. They stopped them after one minute. Here are the questions they answered:

- Name all of the animals you can think of.
- Name all of the fruit you can remember.

How many did you list for each?

Those with early Alzheimer's listed 10 to 15 items in each list. The healthy group listed 20 to 25 items.

We learn words at different ages. Dog and cat are usually learned before the age of 5. Take the word aardvark for another example. It is learned later and is used less often.

Those with early Alzheimer's disease would tend to remember the words learned earlier in life. They would not think of words like aardvark, zebra, or giraffe.

Do you feel concerned after taking this test and understanding the nature of the word loss? If so, I urge you to see a doctor for more testing. The earlier you are diagnosed, the better off you and your family will be.

They cannot tell the difference between cognitive dementia due to normal aging or Alzheimer's. It's possible that the part of the brain where this word loss occurs is the most affected in the early stages of Alzheimer's.

Scientists need to do more testing on other degenerative brain diseases. They need to see if word loss is common in more than just Alzheimer's.

Testing for Alzheimer's disease for early detection is a high priority for researchers. In the coming years, there will be more and better ways for testing for Alzheimer's disease.

In the meantime, you can build up reserves in your brain. This will help you to try to outlive the onset of cognitive dementia. Cognitive dementia is the precursor to Alzheimer's disease.

Building up your brain makes neural pathways stronger. Harder to damage. Research shows keeping your brain active can delay cognitive dementia. Of course diet and exercise play a huge role.

Will you be one of the 35 million living with dementia? Do something NOW to keep your memories - before it's too late!

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