How do people actually die from Alzheimer’s Disease?
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Usually, you didn’t die from the alzheimers itself. Usually, if you have it, you’re also an elderly person where slips, trips, and falls can be fatal. Well, it turns out that being elderly and having a diminished mental condition is not a great combination for avoiding falls, so a great many ultimately die from breaking bones after falling. Others often die of other conditions unrelated to the Alzheimer’s because, again, they’re old and just more likely to die of other conditions in general (heart attacks, strokes, cancer, viruses, etc.)
That said, Alzheimer’s will still eventually kill a person given enough time. It’s essentially when the brain’s neurons start dying at a rapid pace, and all the vital connections that make you “you” are broken. Typically, this starts in the more evolved parts of the brain. Places associated with memory are the first to be affected. This causes severe memory loss. Then, it starts moving into the more primitive areas of the brain, those that affect emotion and reasoning, causing irrationality and mood swings (often anger). Finally, the destruction of the brain eventually proceeds to the most primitive and vital (in terms of survival) parts of the brain, such as the brain stem, which controls things like your heart beat, digestion, temperature regulation, etc. Once these areas start losing neurons, the brain can’t keep these vital processes going any longer, and you will eventually die.
On a more opinionated note. Alzheimer’s is awful. To me, it and other diseases like it are the worst diseases affecting humanity. Other diseases may kill more people, but Alzeimers is the only one that robs you of who you are before killing you. It’s not content with just the death, it has to destroy the memory of everything that you once loved and the person your family and friends once loved before doing so. It’s my greatest fear in life, and I wouldn’t wish it upon the worst of people.
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