Alzheimer’s Disease

你可以忘记全世界

可我不想忘记你

Dementia

痴呆症（失智）

Symptom

症状

Mood swings

情绪变化

Diagnosis

确诊

Early onset Alzheimer’s disease

早发性阿尔兹海默症

（65岁前确诊）

Hi, there.  Welcome back.  This is going to be a rather heavy episode. 

Those of you who are listening to this show, many of you are very busy people. You live a busy life, you have lots of responsibilities engage in a wide range of activities every day and interact with different people. It is as stressful, yet very full life.

But just imagine if one day these all change, you start to forget things.  Forget where everything is. Forget how to do the most familiar tasks. Even forget people, including those who are dearest to you. You will start to feel like you're stuck in an infinite puzzle that you just can't figure out. Life, as you know it, seems to be slowly slipping away. To many, this might sound like a terrifying nightmare. But it is the reality for a lot of people, especially older people.  It might even include some of our loved ones. 

So in today's episode, I would like to talk to you about Alzheimer's disease. 今天的酒馆里璐璐就想和你聊聊 Alzheimer's disease. 阿尔兹海默症. I'm sure some of you have heard of this word, but what exactly is Alzheimer's disease？

In1906, Doctor Alzheimer noticed changes in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of an unusual mental illness. Later on, this newly discovered serious illness became known as Alzheimer's disease. 阿尔兹海默症在20世纪初, 因为首次发现他的医生而得名。 Alzheimer's disease or Alzheimer's is a progressive form of Dementia. Dementia is a broader term for conditions caused by brain injuries or diseases that negatively affect memory, thinking, and behavior. Dementia就是痴呆症。Alzheimer's就是 Dementia的一种。 Alzheimer's disease can cause many changes and severely interfere with daily life. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems with language, disorientation, including easily getting lost, mood swings, loss of motivation, not managing self care and behavioral issues. As a person's condition declines, they often withdraw from family and society. Gradually, bodily functions are lost, ultimately leading to death. 

阿尔茨海默症是一种进行性发展的神经系统退行性疾病, according to the Alzheimer's Association, this disease accounts for 60 to 80 % of  Dementia cases 占到痴呆症的60~80%. Most people with the disease get a diagnosis after age 65. If it's diagnosed before, then it's generally referred to as early-onset Alzheimer's disease. 虽然阿尔兹海默的主要发病人群是65岁以上的老人, 但是也可能出现 early-onset Alzheimer's disease, 早发性阿尔兹海默症. 

If you have watched a movie Still Alice a Japanese TV show called《大恋爱和忘了我的你》, both main characters are suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Even though many people have heard of the name, they might not know a lot of the relevant facts. 

First of all, Alzheimer's disease is a chronic ongoing condition. So the symptoms will show up gradually and effects on the brain are degenerative, meaning they cause slow decline. There's no cure for Alzheimer's. But treatment can help slow the progression of the disease and may improve quality of life. 

Anyone can get Alzheimer's disease. But certain people are at higher risk. This includes people over age 65 and those with family history of the condition. And very importantly, there's no single expected outcome for people with Alzheimer's.  

阿尔兹海默症的发病过程因人而异, some people live a long time with mild cognitive damage. While others experience a more rapid onset of symptoms and quicker disease progression. When our loved ones get older, when they start to forget things and show some of the symptoms, some of us probably will think it's just a normal part of aging and we will ignore all the symptoms. So here let's look at some of the early signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's.  So maybe this can help us get better informed about the disease and perhaps notice some of the signs.

The first sign of Alzheimer's is memory loss that disrupts daily life. This include forgetting recently learned information like important dates or events or they would ask the same question over and over again.

Sign number two, difficulty completing familiar tasks. They will start to have trouble driving to familiar locations or even writing down a grocery list. 

Sign number three, confusion with time or place. People suffering from Alzheimer's, start to lose track of dates, seasons and passage of time. They often forget where they are and how they got there. 

Another sign is they will start to have new problems with words in speaking or writing, having trouble following a conversation or they would stop in the middle of the conversation. They might even have trouble naming a familiar object or use the wrong name. For example, they might call a watch, hand clock.

Sign number five. They would misplace things, put things in unusual places. When they lose things, they're not able to go back over their steps to find them. They might also show decreased or poor judgment. They would show poor judgment in dealing with money or they would pay less attention to grooming or keeping themselves clean. 平时的个人护理、自理能力也会下降. They will also withdraw from work or social activities, spend more time on their own or show changes in mood and personality. For example, a lot of Alzheimer's patients will be confused, depressed, suspicious, or anxious. For most of us who live our busy life every day, the topic of Alzheimer's seemed to be quite far away. But in fact, right now in China, they're currently over 6 million people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. So it's actually much closer to us than you might think. If you do have loved ones or people you know who are suffering from this disease, how do we offer our help？

Here are a few tips according to experts to help people with Alzheimer's, especially if they're your loved ones. 

The first thing you do is to educate yourself, to learn all the necessary information and then to assess safety risks in the home. Try to reduce anything that might cause them harm. At the same time, helping them form routines they can follow and fostering their independence can be quite essential. 

帮助阿尔兹海默症患者建立一些每天的routine来鼓励他们一定程度上的自理, and also allow their emotional responses because they can feel really helpless and confused. 

But on top of all this, it's important to prioritize self care, taking care of a loved one who struggling with Alzheimer's disease can be really difficult and exhausting.  So if you're in that situation, it's very important that you take care of yourself as well. 

For those of us who are still young, they are certain things you can do right now to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's in later years. 其实在生活中形成一些习惯, 也可以帮助降低在老年患阿尔茨海默症的几率.  

For example, do regular exercise, have a brain healthy diet. This would mean try to eat less red meat, butter, cheese, sweet or fried food. Instead, eat fish, chia and flax seeds, which are rich sources of ω-3. 多吃对脑部健康有好处的食物. 比如说富含Omega three的鱼类, 奇亚籽和亚麻籽. Get rid of bad habits like smoking or heavy drinking, drink tea, especially green tea or Oolong tea.  And in your spare time, learn new skills. For example, learning foreign languages will keep your brain active.  Of course, doing brain puzzles or playing brain games does help as well. 

No matter if it's for the patient themselves or for people who are families, Alzheimer's disease can have a devastating impact on people's lives. The thing is the person who has Alzheimer's knows that pieces of the puzzle are missing and they are terrified. I always remember in the movie Still Alice在电影Still Alice里不幸罹患早发性阿尔兹海默症的Alice对自己的丈夫说, I miss myself. 而对于很多患者的家属来说, 阿尔兹海默症好像是一场让人心痛的漫长的告别.  

But although your loved one may not remember you or might do things that frustrate you. This is the time when he or she needs you the most. When I was looking at quotes about Alzheimer's, I found one that says there's one thing Alzheimer's cannot take away: that is love. Love is not a memory. It's a feeling that resides in your heart and soul. Hopefully, today's program can reach some of you. 

And for others, this can be the first step we take to become aware of the disease and to stay informed. If you have any thoughts and experiences that you think might help others, don't hesitate to share in the comments section. 

I'll see you next time. Bye.