There is a film called the uncrowned king of the 2020 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, called "Don't Forget Me", although it is only more than 10 minutes long, in my neurologist's view, it is still impressive and sighing.
(Image source: "Don't Forget Me")
"Don't Forget Me" is a French clay stop-motion animation with a very unique artistic style, with a very expressive and imaginative picture style, telling the story of Louis, an oil painter with Alzheimer's disease, who slowly loses his memory.
Everyone understands the world differently. In the eyes of romantic people, the world is full of flowers and encounters; in the eyes of gloomy people, the world is full of sludge and miscellaneous water; so what is the world like in the eyes of Alzheimer's patients?
The most powerful thing about the film is that it shows us Louis's psychological feelings in the process of disease development in the most visual way.
In this popular science article, we will talk about Alzheimer's disease.
01
Alzheimer's patients
How low is the visit rate?
We often hear jokes between friends or family who say, "I'm alzheimer's going to be." ”
It can be seen that the term Alzheimer's disease is familiar to everyone, but do you know the real medical situation of Alzheimer's disease in China?
In August 2019, Jia Jianping's team published a review in The Lancet Neurology, a sub-journal of The Lancet, focusing on Alzheimer's disease, discussing the diagnosis and treatment of dementia in China, and the data showed that nearly 70%-80% of dementia patients in China did not receive treatment.
Worldwide, as many as three-quarters of people with dementia go undiagnosed.
Alzheimer's disease (AD), commonly known as "Alzheimer's disease," doesn't just occur in old age, and early-onset AD patients may begin to develop symptoms as early as they are forty or fifty years old. Regrettably, however, due to the limited understanding of the disease by patients and their families, it is often easy to miss the best time for intervention.
The survey shows that the average time from symptoms to the first diagnosis of AD patients in China is more than 1 year, due to the limitations of patients and their families' cognition of the disease, two-thirds of the patients have developed moderate to severe at the time of diagnosis.
Early diagnosis, early intervention, early treatment, this is the unanimous recommendation of the medical community for Alzheimer's disease, and the reality is that in Chinese society, Alzheimer's disease faces the embarrassment of "three lows": low awareness, low medical treatment rate, and lower proportion of treatment.
(Image source: Internet)
02
Be wary of "old fools"
Alzheimer's disease has a distinctive feature: memory impairment. Moreover, Alzheimer's memory impairment is characterized by gradual spread from near and far.
That is to say, in the early symptoms, you often find that Alzheimer's patients will forget their near things, and distant things will be remembered deeply. For example, you ask him what he ate for breakfast today? They tend to say they don't remember; and when you ask where you studied in middle school, they may blurt it out.
So in the process of communicating with Alzheimer's patients, you will find that they can't remember what they just said, and they will repeat what they said many times. And because forgetting will lead to loss, it will appear that life is a mess, and I can't say it clearly. So it feels like "old stupid".
Many people think that old confusion is a very common thing, and the elderly who are not familiar with some performance may suffer from Alzheimer's disease, which is not a normal aging phenomenon. It is this kind of cognitive misunderstanding that often delays the patient's treatment and treatment.
Some of the early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease include quickly forgetting what just happened; difficulty in completing familiar tasks; confusion in judging when and where you are; difficulty speaking and writing; becoming unsociable and losing interest in old hobbies; and changing personality or behavior.
It has been introduced in my previous related articles, if you need to find it in this popular science article, or click on the picture at the end of the article to view.
On April 28 this year, the first "Investigation Report on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease Patients in China" was released. The report shows that the vast majority of Alzheimer's patients interviewed go to the doctor after some symptoms appear, while only 10.06% of those who find problems through physical examination or cognitive screening go to the doctor.
Therefore, when your family or friends have memory loss, forgetfulness, confusion, do not know familiar people and other phenomena, you must go to the hospital in time to screen and diagnose, early detection, early intervention, early treatment.
03
Alzheimer's disease
More common than you might think
From 1906, The German psychiatrist and pathologist Alois Alzheimer first described and subsequently named Alzheimer's disease to the present day, to the past 100 years. It is estimated that more than 50 million people worldwide suffer from dementia. By 2050, the number of people affected will increase to 152 million, with the largest increase in low- and middle-income countries. So Alzheimer's is all around us and may be far more common than you think.
Statistics show that There are about 10 million people with dementia in China, including Alzheimer's disease, which is the country with the largest number of patients in the world, and it is growing rapidly with more than 300,000 new cases every year.
Behind the huge numbers is the plight of individual families and the huge cost of social care. When our loved ones are "forgetting" the world, what we can do is stop ignoring, misunderstanding, or even forgetting them.
04
There is a cure for Alzheimer's
On June 7, 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially approved the marketing of a new alzheimer's drug aducanumab jointly developed by Biogen and Japan's Eisai.
This is the first Alzheimer's drug approved by the FDA in nearly 20 years. Although the listing of this drug has also caused great controversy, the listing itself has shown that Alzheimer's disease can be treated.
Although taking drugs can effectively help delay the progression of the disease and improve the quality of life of patients to a large extent, the earlier Alzheimer's disease is diagnosed and treated, the better the treatment effect, so this reminds us of the importance of early intervention.
05
How to prevent Alzheimer's disease?
Although there is currently no way to completely prevent Alzheimer's disease, some studies suggest that the following measures may help reduce the risk of Developing Alzheimer's disease:
● Control cholesterol levels
The results showed that high cholesterol levels were associated with Alzheimer's disease. Cholesterol levels can be lowered by a low-fat diet or by taking statins.
● Control of hypertension
High blood pressure can damage blood vessels, reduce cerebral blood flow, reduce oxygen supply to the brain, and even affect the transmission of information between neurons.
● Physical exercise
Physical exercise improves heart function and may also improve brain function.
● Insist on using the brain
Encourage people to use their brains, such as learning new skills, crossword puzzles, and reading newspapers. These mental activities promote the formation of new connections between neurons and can delay dementia.
In addition, people who engage in certain educational activities appear to have a lower risk of Developing Alzheimer's disease, such as reading, graphic games, crossword puzzles, playing musical instruments, learning a second language, and engaging in daily social activities.
September 21 is china's traditional festival Mid-Autumn Festival, and this day is also World Alzheimer's Day.
Alzheimer's disease will slowly destroy the patient's memory, cognitive function and even life self-care ability, behind each patient there is a heartbroken family, in the family reunion festival, I wish everyone a happy holiday, but also hope that everyone pays attention to brain health, so that our family is not isolated in the lonely deep sea because of AD disease.