In 1907, when Alzheimer's disease was first identified by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in a fifty-two year old woman, it was considered a rare brain disorder of the young. It was thought that as we age, we lose cognitive function and become senile. Today, we know differently. Dementia is not a natural process of aging. Alzheimer's disease is most common in people over the age of 65, but can also strike someone as young as twenty or thirty, although this is very rare.
Proper diagnosis is extremely important when dealing with dementia.
Dementia is a broad term referring to a condition in which cognitive functions decline. There are more than 70 different medical reasons why someone may experience a form of dementia. Of those 70, as many as 60 of them are reversible. Alzheimer's disease is the most common of the irreversible dementias. Today, diagnosing Alzheimer's disease is still a process of elimination.