Auguste D
Encyclopedia
Auguste Deter is the first person diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease
. Her maiden name is unknown. She married Karl Deter in the 1880s and together they had one daughter. Auguste had a normal life. However, during the late 1890s, she started showing symptoms of dementia
, such as: loss of memory, delusion
s, and even temporary vegetative states. She would have trouble sleeping, would drag sheets across the house, and even scream for hours in the middle of the night.
Karl could not take it any more. Being a railway worker, he had to admit her to a mental institution so that he could continue to work. He brought her to the Institution for the Mentally Ill and for Epileptics in Frankfurt
, Germany
on 25 November 1901 where she was examined by Dr. Alois Alzheimer
. He asked her many questions, and later asked again to see if she remembered. He told her to write her name. She tried to, but would forget the rest and repeat: "I have lost myself." (Ich hab mich verloren) He later put her in an isolation room for a while. When he released her, she would run out screaming, "I do not cut myself. I will not cut myself." Her words have been commemorated in an important work, commissioned by the Susquehanna Valley Chorale, composed by Robert Cohen and librettist Herschel Garfein, entitled "Alzheimer Stories".
After many years, she became completely demented, muttering to herself. She died on 8 April 1906.
Around midday, Frau Auguste D. ate pork and cauliflower.
Alzheimer concluded that she had no sense of time or place. She could barely remember details of her life and frequently gave answers that had nothing to do with the question and were incoherent. Her moods changed rapidly between anxiety, mistrust, withdrawal and 'whininess'. They could not let her wander around the wards because she would accost other patients who would then assault her. It was not the first time that Alzheimer had seen a complete degeneration of the psyche in patients, but previously the patients had been in their seventies. Deter piqued his curiosity because she was much younger. In the weeks following, he continued to question her and record her responses. She frequently responded, "Oh, God!", and, "I seem to have lost myself". She seemed to be consciously aware of her helplessness. Alzheimer called it the "Disease of Forgetfulness".
In 1902, Alzheimer left the "Irrenschloss" (Castle of the Insane), as the Institution was known colloquially, to take up a position in Munich
but he made frequent calls to Frankfurt inquiring about Deter's condition. On 9 April, 1906, Alzheimer received a call from Frankfurt that Auguste Deter had died. He requested that her medical records and brain be sent to him. Her chart recorded that in the last years of her life, her condition had deteriorated considerably. Her death was the result of sepsis
caused by an infected bedsore
. On examining her brain, he found senile plaques
and neurofibrillary tangles.
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
. Her maiden name is unknown. She married Karl Deter in the 1880s and together they had one daughter. Auguste had a normal life. However, during the late 1890s, she started showing symptoms of dementia
Dementia
Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...
, such as: loss of memory, delusion
Delusion
A delusion is a false belief held with absolute conviction despite superior evidence. Unlike hallucinations, delusions are always pathological...
s, and even temporary vegetative states. She would have trouble sleeping, would drag sheets across the house, and even scream for hours in the middle of the night.
Karl could not take it any more. Being a railway worker, he had to admit her to a mental institution so that he could continue to work. He brought her to the Institution for the Mentally Ill and for Epileptics in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on 25 November 1901 where she was examined by Dr. Alois Alzheimer
Alois Alzheimer
Aloysius "Alois" Alzheimer, was a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist and a colleague of Emil Kraepelin. Alzheimer is credited with identifying the first published case of "presenile dementia", which Kraepelin would later identify as Alzheimer's disease....
. He asked her many questions, and later asked again to see if she remembered. He told her to write her name. She tried to, but would forget the rest and repeat: "I have lost myself." (Ich hab mich verloren) He later put her in an isolation room for a while. When he released her, she would run out screaming, "I do not cut myself. I will not cut myself." Her words have been commemorated in an important work, commissioned by the Susquehanna Valley Chorale, composed by Robert Cohen and librettist Herschel Garfein, entitled "Alzheimer Stories".
After many years, she became completely demented, muttering to herself. She died on 8 April 1906.
Rediscovery of Auguste Deter's medical records
In 1996, Dr. Konrad Maurer and his colleagues, Drs. Volk and Gerbaldo, rediscovered the medical record of Auguste Deter. In it Dr. Alzheimer had recorded his examination of his patient,- "What is your name?“
- "Auguste.“
- "Family name?“
- "Auguste.“
- "What is your husband's name?“ - she hesitates, finally answers:
- "I believe ... Auguste.“
- "Your husband?“
- "Oh, so!“
- "How old are you?“
- "Fifty-one.“
- "Where do you live?“
- "Oh, you have been to our place“
- "Are you married?“
- "Oh, I am so confused.“
- "Where are you right now?“
- "Here and everywhere, here and now, you must not think badly of me.“
- "Where are you at the moment?“
- "This is where I will live.“
- "Where is your bed?“
- "Where should it be?“
Around midday, Frau Auguste D. ate pork and cauliflower.
- "What are you eating?“
- "Spinach.“ (She was chewing meat.)
- "What are you eating now?“
- "First I eat potatoes and then horseradish.“
- "Write a '5'."
- She writes: "A woman"
- "Write an '8'."
- She writes: "Auguste" (While she is writing she again says, "It's like I have lost myself.")
Alzheimer concluded that she had no sense of time or place. She could barely remember details of her life and frequently gave answers that had nothing to do with the question and were incoherent. Her moods changed rapidly between anxiety, mistrust, withdrawal and 'whininess'. They could not let her wander around the wards because she would accost other patients who would then assault her. It was not the first time that Alzheimer had seen a complete degeneration of the psyche in patients, but previously the patients had been in their seventies. Deter piqued his curiosity because she was much younger. In the weeks following, he continued to question her and record her responses. She frequently responded, "Oh, God!", and, "I seem to have lost myself". She seemed to be consciously aware of her helplessness. Alzheimer called it the "Disease of Forgetfulness".
In 1902, Alzheimer left the "Irrenschloss" (Castle of the Insane), as the Institution was known colloquially, to take up a position in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
but he made frequent calls to Frankfurt inquiring about Deter's condition. On 9 April, 1906, Alzheimer received a call from Frankfurt that Auguste Deter had died. He requested that her medical records and brain be sent to him. Her chart recorded that in the last years of her life, her condition had deteriorated considerably. Her death was the result of sepsis
Sepsis
Sepsis is a potentially deadly medical condition that is characterized by a whole-body inflammatory state and the presence of a known or suspected infection. The body may develop this inflammatory response by the immune system to microbes in the blood, urine, lungs, skin, or other tissues...
caused by an infected bedsore
Bedsore
Bedsores, more properly known as pressure ulcers or decubitus ulcers, are lesions caused by many factors—such as unrelieved pressure, friction, humidity, shearing forces, temperature, age, continence, and medication—to any part of the body, especially portions over bony or cartilaginous areas such...
. On examining her brain, he found senile plaques
Senile plaques
Senile plaques are extracellular deposits of amyloid in the gray matter of the brain. The deposits are associated with degenerative neural structures and an abundance of microglia and astrocytes...
and neurofibrillary tangles.
External links
- Who Named It? - Alois Alzheimer
- Alzheimer's: 100 years on
- Alois Alzheimer's Biography, International Brain Research Organization
- Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Disease Research - Prof. Dr. Christian Haass
- Bibliography of secondary sources on Alois Alzheimer and Alzheimer's disease, selected from peer-reviewed journals.
- Graeber Manuel B. "Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915)" International Brain Research OrganizationInternational Brain Research OrganizationThe International Brain Research Organization was founded in 1961 in response to the growing demand from neuroscientists in many countries for the creation of a central organization that would cut across world boundaries and improve communication and collaboration among brain researchers...