Alzheimer's disease is growing in frequency in the global population, largely due to the advances in modern medicine that allow people to live longer lives and thus acquire age-related conditions. This disease causes a gradual but irreversible degeneration of the brain with corresponding memory and behavioral changes.
1. Antipsychotics
Many people have heard of Alzheimer's disease, but they may not be familiar with the smaller nuances of the condition. As the brain continues to deteriorate, there is damage in multiple parts of the organ.
The most important part of the brain that is responsible for personality and mood would be the frontal lobe. As this section of the brain deteriorates, it can arguably be the most trying time for the patient, family, and friends because it is as if you are meeting a new person. The front part of the brain is responsible for controlling your emotions, your behavior, and your sleep pattern.
These patients will start to become more vulgar, have more mood swings, and it may even become difficult for loved ones to be around the person.
At this stage of the disease, it is important to look for medical interventions that can help manage these symptoms. The changes in behavior are due to imbalances in brain chemicals that are important for controlling emotions. It is important to seek out medical interventions that can help stabilize the patient's behaviors. One of the first lines of treatment that a patient with Alzheimer's disease could benefit from would be antipsychotics.
This can be beneficial for patients, because when these drugs are given at lower doses, there will be a change in behavior without the more pronounced side effects seen with higher doses of these preparations. Namely, patients who take very high doses of anti-psychotics will typically do so in severe cases of disorders like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and after taking the drug, will be very subdued. If a lower dose of the medication can be used instead in the earlier stages of the disease, the patient will not be as noticeably affected by the drug.
2. Benzodiazepines
This is a very important class of medication that can be of use to patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
One of the first noticeable changes in the course of the disease is a change in sleeping patterns that will occur once the brain begins to deteriorate. This is partly due to the fact that the brain does not require the same amount of sleep to regenerate because it is shrinking, and partly due to the fact that the same chemicals like serotonin and dopamine that can control your mood can also influence your sleeping patternw.
When considering using these types of drugs, however, it is up to the discretion of the doctor due to the complications associated with this therapy.
Numerous recent studies have found that patients who have taken benzodiazepines for a long period of time actually have a moderate risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in the future. Obviously, this fear is not present in a patient who is already be diagnosed with the disease, but doctors are now more reluctant to widely prescribe these drugs to a patient with Alzheimer's and will instead decide on a case by case basis. Investigations are now being done to determine whether benzodiazepines can increase the course of Alzheimer's or not but they are still used in treatment at this time, in small quantities to help a patient sleep.
Drugs that may produce the same effect would be anti-histamines. Benadryl, for example, is a common type of drug that you may take if you suffer from a running nose during the pollen season. It is also a drug with the side effect of making you sleepy.
Based on how the investigations into benzodiazepines go in the future in regard to Alzheimer's therapy, make sure you ask your doctor if a small dose would be appropriate for your loved one suffering from Alzheimer's.
3. Antidepressants
The next group of medications that may be of some help to a person suffering from Alzheimer’s disease would be antidepressants. In most types of chronic diseases, patients are likely to suffer from depression, and Alzheimer’s is no exception. As the brain begins to deteriorate, however, patients are more likely to suffer from more severe forms of depression because the chemicals in the brain are beginning to fall as well.
These chemicals, like serotonin or dopamine, play essential roles in controlling mood and even slight fluctuations in concentration can lead to depressive symptoms. When a patient suffers from a condition like severe depression, they are at risk of hallucinations, lack any motivation to leave their homes, and even suffer from suicidal thoughts.
This stage can be quite demanding for a patient's loved ones, because they will need to constantly supervise the person as even a brief gap in observation can lead to attempted suicide.
The thing to remember with these medications is that will take some time to take effect. It can be a few weeks even before a patient can start to notice an improvement in mood so even if the drug is not helping right away, stay persistent with the therapy.