Memory is the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information as defined by the world. Memories are the most precious objects that the brain can store. They hold our best moments of our lives, yet also our worst. They are what make humans so special.  In 1906, Dr. Alois Alzheimer noticed significant patterns of change in brain tissue of an woman who died of an mental illness. Her symptoms were memory loss, unpredictable behavior and trouble speaking. This would later be the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is an progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memories and humans abilities to think. It occurs in the mid-60’s and is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. It is an form of Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning. Many scientists have tried to cure this disease, but some believe it is irreversible. Now, in 2017 we have moved closer to the cure, yet still haven’t found one. It’s been over 100 years and we still haven’t found a cure. Although the cure for Alzheimer’s Diseases has yet to happen, with increasing technology and medicines the efficacy for a cure is becoming better and better which shows progress and hope for a cure. 

Throughout the years dementia has become an increasingly prevalent disease which has effected many, many people. In 2050 it is projected that 135 million people worldwide will have some sort of dementia (Gordon 1).  Many doctors emphasize on early diagnosis to help prevent or slow down the effects. Although this may not seem like much it has greatly reduced the numbers that could be of patients. They problem is it’s not always apparent that a patient has the dementia until the symptoms are too strong. Then the difficulty is diagnosing which subtype the patient has which leads to Alzheimer’s. Practitioners are usually the first process in diagnosing patients with early onset Alzheimer’s. Usually the patient will come in complaining of memory loss or something basic and doctors are unable in diagnosing the disease. What hospitals and doctors’ offices have been doing is training students in the medical field to be able to recognize these symptoms early on so it is easier to hold off the disease. They doctor should check the patients family history thoroughly to see if it’s in the genes which is an huge part in causing the disease. They then do blood tests, such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate, urea and electrolytes, thyroid function, vitamin B12, and folate. Midstream specimen of urine, chest radiography, and electrocardiography (Gordon 2). These help access the function of any patients body and also is correlated to their memory.  Now technology is increasing and allowing doctors to identify this disease quicker such as using Cerebrospinal fluid sampling which is used to help identify causes of dementia (Gordon 3). Amyloid which is an big factor in the creation of Alzheimer’s is able to be captured on images in the brain which also helps doctors catch the disease. There is no cure only treatments but with the recent expansion of technology anything is possible. 

An experiment on the drug rivastigmine, which is used to treat patients with Alzheimer’s, was conducted by Dr. Rosler is showing progress in the treatment of patients. 725 patients with mild to severe patients were tested on with approval by the government. They were given 4 mg a day if mild symptoms and 6-12 mg if they were severe. Some patients were given the placebo to have a control (Rosler 1).  The study noticed that cognitive function for those given the placebo became worse obviously because they were given any treatment and those given 6-12 mg showed much better improvement in their cognitive skills and showed hope for future treatments. This lead to an conclusion that rivastigmine is an effective and helpful drug for the treatment of Alzheimer patients. This was conducted over 6 month period and showed that with new technology and medicine the treatment of this drug could become an possibility. 

Although treatment and technology has improved a cure has yet to become reality. Dr. Frank Longo is an neurologist at Stanford and has cured Alzheimer’s in mice many, many times yet can’t cure it in humans. He evens states that “ We have cured in mice many times. Why can’t we move that success to people ( Park 1)? He even has created his own pharmaceutical company dedicated to creating new drugs to cure patients with this disease. He has created an drug that shows promise and is safe in humans, yet it still has yet to cure it. It only slows down the effects. Decades have gone by since the discovery of Alzheimer’s and no cure. Maybe there is no way to cure dementia, but if doctors and people thought like that all throughout history there is no way we would have made it this far. As an species we have defied many plagues and attacks and showed that we are a dominant species. We continue to evolve and think past our limits. So why should this disease stop us? It shouldn’t, and it won’t. 

Alzheimer’s is thought to begin many years before dementia was diagnosed.  Doctors believe that it may start in your forties or fifties and not your sixties or seventies. They doctors are starting to take a look at the amyloid beta accumulation which causes the disease and how it functions and alters the brains structure. Doctors believe that over 13.5 million individuals in the U.S. alone will obtain this disease (Sperling 1).  There is a correlation with age and cognitive function. Doctors are striving to find the preclinical stages of AD before it starts to become dementia. This will allow for more effective treatments. Doctors have also taken notice that AD views of amyloid beta peptide build-up is a key event in the physiological process. In a  hundred years the significant progress of diagnosing AD has increased and leads to a more helpful future. 

Recent studies have shown that coconut oil has an possible cure for Alzheimer’s. This was first founded by Dr. Newport when she discovered that her husband, who had AD started to show improvements when adding coconut oil to his diet. Coconut oil is an type of fat, and usually is associated as an bad thing to implement in any humans diet, yet for some reason coconut oil was helping doctor Newport’s husbands symptoms.  Yet, real coconut oil is actually good for you. Dr. Newport began to study other patients with coconut oil and noticed significant improvements of memory in patients. She later discovered that coconut oil is “brain food” ( Schmid 1).  Brains feed off of sugar and when the brain is under stress or diseased it can’t process sugar as well so ketones are the second best option. Well, as it turns out, ketones are very prevalent in coconut oil and that is why it is so helpful. 

So what does all this research mean. Well, for the sake of progress in finding a cure, ketones seem to be an big factor in treatment and amyloid beta seems to be the causing factor. There are still many other factors that are causing this disease that we don’t know about. As we continue to dive into the science of AD, there is also other ways to prevent such a disease and that is through brain exercises. Changing your routine and consistently doing certain exercises helps strengthen your brain. Not only is medicine so important, but the daily routines of our life play a factor in treating AD. That is what makes it so hard to defeat this disease. There isn’t just one pill yet that can just be swallowed and cure the disease. We aren’t in that point of our technology. At some point we will be, but as of right now we aren’t. 

AD effects not just only the person with the disease, but also loved ones as well. AD patients can be violent and mean because they forget where they are, who they are, and what they were doing and can hurt loved ones and friends. They also can become depressed which only worsens things because the brain is still being effected. Guilt is also a very common occurrence in people who are around the person with AD because they feel guilty for past treatment of the patient or guilty for not wanting to take care of the patient.  Loved ones can also experience grief and anger because they wish they had the person back they used to know. This disease is so terrible because it attacks our memories which are one the greatest things a human can have. This disease like any other illness can put stress on an household and family and corrupt younger children’s lives and well-being. This is why it is so prevalent we come closer to a cure for AD. They best thing any physician can do is keep the family informed of the patients well-being and create a hopeful atmosphere while other scientists continue creating better more efficient drugs and medicines. 

Overall, Alzheimer’s disease is an powerful, terrible form of nature’s most brutal weapons and we as humans have come an long way in 100 years to help slowly defeat it. We have lost many battles, but we will win the war because with increasing technological advances and scientist creating more drugs to test on patients we can cure this disease. Many believe it to be impossible, but hope is what continues to guide these patients and family’s effected by Alzheimer’s. We as a human race must unite our brains and finish off this disease. There is a solution to every problem, it just isn’t always easy to see or think of. 
