Ignorance a hurdle in treating Alzheimer’s disease

Faridkot, September 21
It is a basic human right to be loved and nurtured. However, owing to rampant superstition and quackery in the rural areas of Punjab, hundreds of elderly persons afflicted with the Alzheimer’s disease, most of them suffering from acute dementia, are confined to a room in their houses.
Alzheimer’s is a disease that results in impaired memory and reasoning. While the disease can also occur in younger people in their thirties, the risk grows considerably after 65, says Dr KS Kajal, former principal, Guru Gobind Singh Medical College. Owing to ignorance about the disease, instead of taking patients to a doctor, most families turn to sorcerers. And, in the last stage when the patient loses control over his bowel movements, is confined to a room.
At a Seminar on the World’s Alzheimer’s Day at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College here yesterday, while the doctors discussed the problem threadbare, the medical students staged a skit in a bid to make the audience aware of the problem. Besides old age, other risk factors are: a family history of the disease, stress, serious illness or injury, inadequate physical activity and poor diet, said Dr Harish Arora, head of the Psychiatry Department.
“One may notice that his or her spouse is unable to perform routine tasks and exhibits memory lapses. The diagnosis becomes more difficult when the afflicted person is living alone as there is none to realise that the person needs help,” said Dr SS Gill, VC, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) while addressing the seminar.