Few sufferings equal that of experiencing the progressive extinction of one's own mind or that of a loved one. Although it does not always do so, nature too often takes the price of longevity, disabling brain functions through biological garbage that tacitly accumulates in neurons over the years. He was the German psychiatrist and neurologist Alois Alzheimer who in 1906 reported the case of a middle-aged patient whose symptoms he had been studying for five years before. It began with changes in personality and memory loss that, as they worsened, prevented him from moving around his own home. Progressively, her state of confusion and disorientation increased, even showing delusions and paranoia, such as feeling persecuted by those who were trying to kill her. He died at the age of 51 in the fetal position.
