10 CONSEQUENCES OF ALZHEIMER'S IN PATIENT AND FAMILY - NEUROPSYCHOLOGY - 2024

The most common main consequences of Alzheimer's are marked memory loss and the inability to remember past events. However, this disease goes much further and has very serious effects both for the patient and for the people around him.

Likewise, the repercussions of Alzheimer's on society have a very high impact that often goes unnoticed. In this article we will specify what happens to a person suffering from this neurodegenerative pathology and we will explain what impact it irreversibly creates on their environment.

Alzheimer's and its impact

Why is Alzheimer's so bad? What is the reason why so many negative consequences are associated with this disease and how is the magnitude of its impact in different areas explained?

In order to answer all these questions, it is necessary to approach and properly understand this disease. And it is that Alzheimer's, unlike what many people believe, does not involve a simple loss of memory.

In fact, although this pathology only implies a dysfunction of this type of capacities, its consequences would also be very high. However, Alzheimer's is a pathology that causes a progressive, irreversible and complete degeneration of brain function.

This means that a person with this pathology gradually loses all the functions that it performs through the brain.

Taking into account that all the abilities that people have are, to a greater or lesser extent, regulated by the brain regions, suffering from Alzheimer's implies the slow and progressive loss of all personal capacities.

Considering this, the consequences of Alzheimer's can cover any aspect of a person's life and, therefore, are of remarkable intensity.

In addition, the fact that a person is losing all the skills that have defined him during his life, implies the appearance of repercussions in his closest relatives and in his entire social circle.

The 10 main consequences of Alzheimer's

1- memory loss

It is the pathognomic symptom of the disease and the aspect that we all automatically associate with this disease. Although, as we have said, Alzheimer's does not imply a simple loss of memory, this is the consequence that appears earlier.

The pathology involves a loss of the ability to memorize, remember and learn from its earliest stages. Initially, these symptoms are less noticeable, and are limited to a decreased ability to retain new information.

However, as we have been repeating, Alzheimer's is a progressive disease, so memory gradually worsens. As the disease progresses, the individual begins to not only learn new things, but also to forget previously learned things.

This factor implies, at first, the forgetting of aspects more or less irrelevant to the life of the patient. However, over time the subject will forget any type of memory stored in his mind, including the identity of those closest to him, his own name or his most important experiences.

2- Loss of other functions

Memory loss is important, yes, but possibly not the one that causes the most relevant consequences for the patient. The person with Alzheimer's is not an individual who functions perfectly with the handicap of not being able to remember.

And it is that in the same way that the brain regions that carry out memory processes degenerate and "die" little by little, the areas of the brain that carry out other types of processes also do so.

This implies that the person loses their ability to speak, attend, perceive and reason properly.

Alzheimer's gradually eliminates all abilities and capacities of the subject, so he "forgets" how to make a fried egg, how words are articulated or how to write.

As with memory, these losses appear little by little, but sooner or later they will end up eliminating any type of cognitive capacity of the individual.

3- Loss of autonomy

The two previous points imply a clear loss of autonomy of the person, since the disease prevents him from functioning as before. During the early stages, patients with Alzheimer's may suffer only slight memory loss, so they can preserve their autonomy to some extent.

However, the progression of the disease prevents its conservation and, therefore, makes the individual require intensive care.

In the advanced stages of Alzheimer's, the needs of the patient are often compared with those of young children, which is why they are very often classified as "elderly children."

A person with Alzheimer's may need food to be made, help to dress, or to have to accompany him to any place, otherwise he will get lost. However, the progression of the disease means that these types of consequences do not stop here and continue until a loss of total autonomy.

An individual with Alzheimer's, in the final stages, will require help to clean himself, to fulfill his needs and to guide and accompany him in any activity that he has to carry out.

4- Loss of identity

This is one of the most devastating and difficult to accept consequences of Alzheimer's disease. And it is that the forgetfulness that induces the progressive death of neurons in the brain, implies in the long term, a total loss of identity.

This means that the individual will let know who he is, what his name is and what he is or what he was like before the disease. Likewise, you will forget the identity of your family members and those closest to you such as spouses, children or grandchildren.

The facial memory of these people will no longer be in the brain of the patient, and their identity and the personal relationship that they have established with him will also.

This consequence is probably the one that implies the greatest emotional impact on family members and people who have an affective relationship with the individual affected by Alzheimer's.

Accepting that although she is still alive, Alzheimer's has taken the person we love so much is one of the most difficult emotional processes to carry out.

5- Family dependency

The loss of identity, capacity and autonomy of the patient makes this happen, automatically, to depend on their relatives. The family will be in charge of taking care of him and helping him to carry out all those actions that he can no longer do on his own.

The attention it requires is complete, so the family's dedication must also be total, implying a more than notorious workload.

6- Caregiver overload

Although the dependence of the patient falls on the family, regardless of the structures it may have, the care of the patient will fall mainly on a single person.

Faced with this situation, the figure of the main caregiver is born, that is, the person who is in charge of doing for the patient all that he is no longer capable of doing.

Recent studies show that the majority of primary caregivers (87%) are family members, while a minority are professional caregivers. Likewise, a clear prevalence of the female gender is revealed, since 80% of the main caregivers are women.

In addition, considering the functional and emotional impact that Alzheimer's generates on family members, the burden and consequences of the main caregivers are very high.

A recent study found that 70% of primary caregivers have difficulty leading normal lives.

Likewise, the main caregivers often suffer from stress, a propensity to take tranquilizers, a lower mood, the use of antidepressants, and a decrease in the number of activities and relationships outside the family.

There are many factors that can modulate the negative impacts on the main caregiver, however, it implies a clear risk situation for the person.

7- Impact on the family

Although the main burden, as we have just seen, falls on a single person, the fact that a relative suffers from Alzheimer's can affect the overall functioning of the family.

When the spouse of the sick person is alive and fit for care, choosing the primary caregiver is often straightforward. However, when this does not happen, it is often difficult to agree who will perform these functions and why.

In both cases, family problems can easily surface due to the complexity of the situation.

It must be borne in mind that having a family member with Alzheimer's not only implies alterations in the logistical and practical functioning of the family, but that the disease is accompanied by a high emotional component.

The direct workload on the family, together with the emotional alteration that originates the meaning of the disease, can make a situation more than difficult to manage.

Each member of the family will experience the pathology in a different way, so it is very important to adopt good coordination, and have spaces for dialogue and expression to mitigate the consequences of Alzheimer's on the bosom of the family.

8- Economic costs

Calculating and quantifying the economic impact of a disease like Alzheimer's is difficult to perform.

This pathology involves both direct costs, relative to the expenses involved in customer care, and indirect costs, derived from informal care.

Direct healthcare costs increase as the disease progresses, since the patient will require more and more care, will use health services more, will go to the emergency room more frequently, etc.

Regarding indirect costs, quantification is complicated, since as Alzheimer's is a pathology that usually begins after 65 years of age, they must be calculated based on the impact on caregivers rather than on the impacts on their own sick.

This means that in most cases Alzheimer's does not cause a loss of professional capacity in the patient (who is usually already retired) but it does in the caregiver (who is affected by their ability to work due to workload of caring for your family member).

Although the financial costs may vary in each case, having a family member with Alzheimer's involves very high expenses.

9- Effects on society

Despite all these difficulties in calculating the costs of Alzheimer's disease within each family, there are studies that show the economic impact of this disease on society.

It has been calculated that worldwide, the annual costs of dementia were 422 billion dollars in 2009 (more than a third of Spain's GDP in 2010).

In Spain, costs per patient range between 18,000 and 52,000 euros per year, depending on the degree of dementia. The family assumes 87% of the cost and the rest is paid with public funds

10- Death

The ultimate consequence of Alzheimer's disease is the death of the individual.

It must be taken into account that death from Alzheimer's is secondary to the disease, so this pathology does not cause death directly, but it does degenerate the body and incapacitate the person to overcome other pathologies.

Current research is studying associations between Alzheimer's and multiple pathologies such as hypertension, coronary heart disease or diabetes. However, the leading causes of death among Alzheimer's patients are, by far, infections.

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