ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: THE SIGNS THAT SHOULD ALERT YOU

Several symptoms should attract your attention for consultation and testing. Several treatments are currently available.

What you should be concerned about

Frequently forgetting an appointment, not remembering recent events... Memory problems, 9 times out of 10, do not indicate the onset of Alzheimer's disease. However, when several of the following symptoms persist, it is best to consult your doctor to take stock of the situation: -Forget recent events frequently so you can never remember them. -Forget simple words or substitute them in a sentence with other inappropriate words. Forgetting simple words or substituting them in a sentence with other inappropriate words. - No longer being able to do certain activities that were familiar to us (cooking, gardening, for example). -Being apathetic and depressed. -Getting lost in familiar places. -Difficulty with numbers (doing the accounts, topping up change, etc.). -Having less judgment: trivializing one's own troubles, taking unnecessary precautions. -Frequently leaving objects out of sight or storing them in incongruous places. - Current treatments Current treatments do not prevent brain degeneration, but they do act on the symptoms. Early treatment delays the effects of the disease on daily life. The 2nd generation of actylcholinesterase inhibitors (donepezine, rivastigmine, galantamine), which are better tolerated than the first, improve memory and cognitive functions and reduce behavioural disorders, thus making it possible to delay the patient's loss of autonomy and his or her treatment in a specialised establishment. Another treatment (memantine), indicated in moderate to severe forms, can also improve cognitive functions and behavioural disorders. - Not only medicines However, it is not only drugs that are effective; maintaining a rich social life, therapeutic workshops designed to stimulate cognitive abilities and all the activities that keep the brain awake can also delay loss of autonomy.