l as the person not knowing where he or she lives. The forgetting of the names of close relatives or even their own names, becoming violent, wandering off, not being able to engage in a conversation, having erratic moods and behaviors, and loss of bladder control are among the many symptoms an Alzheimer's patient suffers in the later part of the disease. In extreme cases the patient becomes totally incapable of caring for themselves. Not being able to walk, talk, or eat (Robinson, 1999).Even with such a long list of symptoms the diagnosis of Alzheimer's is very complex. In most cases a person must go to see several different specialist, undergo many extensive test, and the result might take several months to receive. The first thing doctors do is obtain a medical history on the patient. This is important because there are prescription drugs as well as over-the-counter drugs that can cause AD-like symptoms. Since other medical conditions such as tumors, infections, and dementia caused by mild strokes can also cause AD-like symptoms, tests must be used to rule these out. Such tests might include appropriate blood and urine tests, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography scans (CT), tests of the brain's electrical activity (electroencephalographs or EEGs), and other tests must also be preformed. Even after all of this only a provisional diagnosis can be made. A final, positive diagnosis can not be made until death, and only if an autopsy is preformed to look for senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (Robinson, 1999). There are some treatments for Alzheimer's disease, but none are totally effective seems how Alzheimer's remains to be incurable. There are only two drugs that the FDA has approved for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease, although there are other drugs being tested daily. These two are tacrine or Cognex and donepezil hydrochloride or Aricept. Both increase the levels of the neurotransmitter...
