What actually happens in the brain with Alzheimers disease?
To keep it simple, although we do not know how AD begins, we know that the disease process includes a loss of the important neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is needed for healthy brain functioning. An invasive amyloid protein and other hazardous enzymes may create the disease plaques and tangles which invade and corrode the brain cells. After many years, the brain cells actually shrink and die off where the disease has invaded. This is part of what explains the progressive stages of AD. Someone with AD actually has many less good brain cells to use than the healthy person. Is Alzheimer’s disease a terminal illness? Yes, AD is a terminal illness and people can die from this disease after the diseased brain eventually shuts down or impairs all the major bodily functions as cells die off. Brain cell loss and disease may also make the immune system weaker for fighting off other illnesses. The average person lives with AD 10 years, although some people may have the disease 15 years or
