Alzheimer's: the disease Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative brain disease found in the elderly. One of America's most famous painters, Norman Rockwell, succumbed to Alzheimer's after a long and illustrious career. Interestingly, Rockwell's paintings (mentioned) are now sometimes used in dementia therapy because of the memories and nostalgia they evoke. Can you imagine that one day the thing you loved to do would be helping others remember their lost memories and that you might succumb to that same disease. This disease is a physical disease that affects the brain. There are proteins that accumulate in the brain to form structures called "plaques" and "tangles" that eventually lead to the loss of connections of some nerve cells and loss of brain tissue. Alzheimer's disease currently has no cure. I want to focus on the disease itself, medications for treatment, signs and symptoms, and alternatives to medicine. Furthermore, I would like to focus on the numerous stages through which the disease goes through a person. The earliest and most common sign of Alzheimer's is memory deterioration. This memory loss affects recent memories more than long-term memory. This would also lead to a short attention span and often loss of interest in long conversations. Furthermore, disorientation develops and those suffering from Alzheimer's may even get lost on their way. The affected person may also not speak grammatically correctly and speak in a childish manner. They can replace forgotten words with unclear descriptions or invent new words. There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease. So far there are only a few drugs that can slow down its effects. Donepezil (Aricept) [C] is the main drug for the treatment of...... middle of paper ...... never mind good old individual therapy with a specialist. So in closing, when people realize that Alzheimer's is a serious disease, just like breast cancer or even HIV, then maybe we will all start to pay attention. Our elders are as important in our lives as any other generation. We shouldn't just shrug off one of our loved ones when they forget something significant and blame it on old age. It may just be the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The reason an early cure for this disease has not been found is because scientists are trying to get funding by working on a problem that people think is more serious and controversial than Alzheimer's disease. If as much attention was paid to breast cancer, prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction or even AIDS as there has been to Alzheimer's disease, then perhaps there would be an answer.