In 1901, a 51-year-old woman, Auguste D, was brought to Dr. Alois Alzheimer by her husband who said that she was suffering from cognitive and language deficits, auditory hallucinations, delusions, paranoia and aggressive behavior.When Auguste D died Dr. Alzheimer performed an autopsy on her brain; looking for physical evidence for her dementia. He found dense deposits outside and around the nerve cells called senile plaques and Inside the nerve cells he noted the presence of twisted bands of fibers called neurofibrillary tangles

• New thoughts and memories are the result of information traveling between synapses as they form, dissolve, and

form again.

Two proteins are responsible for the plaques and tangles1: Beta Amyloid’s are fragments of amino acids snipped from a larger protein that forms an insoluble plaque. 2: Tau’s are proteins that normally forms crosspieces for neurons, but in Alzheimers Disease, the tau’s twists

into pairs like 2 threads wound around each other.

The first pathway in the brain that’s attacked is the Hippocampus, which is critical for memory. The senile plaques are sticky and form between nerve cells and block

communication. Then, the neurofibrillary tangles choke the nerve cells from the inside. Neurons can no longer talk to each other and synapses begin to disappear.

As the hippocampus is being destroyed fewer new thoughts are able to form and the forgetting begins. Names and words are hard to recall. Familiar places become

foreign. By middle stage , millions of synapses have dissolved and the area of the brain that controls emotions are hit hard. Anger, fear, paranoia abrupt without warning.

By the late stage the disease has taken over the majority if the brain. Long term memories disappear. Loved ones turn into strangers. Speech fades into

silence. Eventually, the disease shuts down the part of the brain that controls swallowing and breathing.