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Updated Sunday, September 18, 2011 11:07 pm TWN, The China Post news staff

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Medical experts promote Alzheimer's awareness

The China Post news staff --Medical experts renewed the call for raising awareness on Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, on the eve of the annual World Alzheimer's Day, which falls on Sept. 21 of each year. Early detection and treatment can make big differences for patients and their families, they stressed.

There are an estimated 36 million people suffering from AD around the world, including 28 million showing emerging symptoms, said Teng Shih-hsiung, chief executive officer of the Taiwan Catholic Foundation of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia (CFAD).

In Taiwan, there are more than 180,000 AD patients with only 33,700 having been formally diagnosed and the rest not attended with medical treatment yet, said Teng, who is concurrently superintendent of Cardinal Tien Hospital, Yonghe branch, in New Taipei City.

In view of the worsening global situations, the world organization Alzheimer's Disease International has designated the whole month of September as World Alzheimer's Month to encourage people to join the fight against this disease every day and help raise public awareness about the problems.

Teng said AD patients generally show signs such as repeating their questions, personality changes like shorter tempers and becoming more suspicious, poorer judgment, frequently missing after leaving home, and weakening cognitive ability concerning other daily affairs.

There are some prevailing misconceptions concerning AD symptoms, including regarding them a natural part coming along with the natural aging process.

It is also wrong to think AD patients are hopeless and to give up on them, said Teng.

These ideas may cause neglect and delayed actions which can trigger more serious problems like depression, aggravated cognitive impairment, and worsening interpersonal relationships.

Teng emphasized that the conditions and lives of AD patients can be improved when given earlier treatment to help stabilize emotions and mental state.

Questionnaires

He suggested people take the time to carry out simple and commonly used evaluations for their elders with easy questions to understand their mental state.

Questions for the assessment can include those about the date, month, and year when the evaluation is conducted; the day of the week; the name of the place where the questions are asked; name of the birthplace and age of the older adult who is questioned; the name of the person's mother; a couple of phone numbers closely related to the person; the name of the current president of the nation and the president before him; and rudimentary math like counting backward from 20 by 3's.

Popular entertainers Sun Yueh and Ella are among the volunteers who have joined a campaign to help lift public awareness and fight against AD.

Ella said her grandmother, aged 86, showed AD symptoms like mistaking a family member as somebody else five or six years ago.

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Comments

September 18, 2011 allenkgolden@

As we look at the treatment options for Alzheimer's Disease let us keep an open mind as to all options available. There is not a known cure for Alzheimer's as yet. We hope to see this sometime, hopefully not far down the road. In the meantime the use of pharmaceutical medications has at least helped Alzheimer's patients to have some success. There are also natural supplements which-with the use of the pharmaceuticals-may take things a step further. Many people who have participated in medical research have seen significant changes. In as little as 24 months people have been able to go back to some form of occupations. So many of us are not aware of this because unless someone pays to have this heard it is kept under a rock. God Bless those who take that extra step to look a little deeper. Most of us are too devastated to do so and need help from those who keep an open mind.