Alzheimer's disease is a progressive fatal illness that causes areas of the brain to shrink. The resulting symptoms start with memory loss and other cognitive deficits, advancing to major personality changes and eventual loss of control over bodily functions.
While some of us experience mild memory losses with aging, people with Alzheimer's have a more noticeable and rapid decline in memory and other cognitive skills. Learn the signs and symptoms to help you decide if its time to seek help for yourself or a loved one showing symptoms of Alzheimer's.
Signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's
When Alzheimer's disease begins to destroy brain cells, no outward symptoms are evident. After a while, small memory lapses appear and grow more serious. The afflicted individual may forget the names of familiar people or places, the words to express what they want to say, or the location of everyday objects.
As the memory lapses of early Alzheimer's become more serious, other cognitive deficits and behavior problems develop:
Typical signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease
- General confusion, disorientation to date, time or place
- Apathy, irritability, depression, anxiety
- Problems with language, math, abstract thinking, and judgment
- Personality changes with strange quirks or inappropriate behaviors
- Wandering, hiding objects, problems with eating and sleeping
- Late in the disease, paranoia and delusions may occur
- Toward the end, total loss of self, and inability to control bodily functions
While these are the major symptoms of Alzheimer's, not all patients have all these symptoms. However, it is good to be aware of the most typical warning signs, as it is important to recognize problems early, and get help for them. Are people with Alzheimer's aware of their signs and symptoms?
People with Alzheimer's show a range of responses to their own behavior and condition:
- Denial (in the early stages)
- Blame others for making them look ridiculous
- Complete self-awareness (I'm sorry, I have Alzheimer's)
- Frustration, agitation, rage
- Vacant despair, with no apparent recognition that they were once a different person
By the middle stage of Alzheimer's, most victims no longer are aware that they don't remember things or aren't communicating coherently. This is fortunate for them. In a safe environment with good care and social contact, most Alzheimer's patients seem relatively free of suffering. For their friends and relatives it's a different story: the long steady decline of their loved one is painful to watch. The demands of Alzheimer's care also take a toll, over the many years before inevitable death. Depression is more common among the caregivers of Alzheimer's patients than it is among the patients themselves.
The Main Stages of Alzheimer's Disease
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| Early-stage Alzheimer's (Mild) | Mid-stage Alzheimer's (Moderate) | Late-stage Alzheimer's (Severe) |
| Memory loss or other cognitive deficits are noticeable, yet the person can compensate for them and continue to function independently. | Mental abilities decline, the personality changes, and physical problems develop so that the person becomes more and more dependent on caregivers. | Complete deterioration of the personality and loss of control over bodily functions requires total dependence on others for even the most basic activities of daily living. |
Memory loss or other cognitive deficits are noticeable, yet the person can compensate for them and continue to function independently.
Mental abilities decline, the personality changes, and physical problems develop so that the person becomes more and more dependent on caregivers.
Complete deterioration of the personality and loss of control over bodily functions requires total dependence on others for even the most basic activities of daily living.
People vary in the length of time spent in each stage, and in which stage the signs and symptoms appear. Because the stages overlap, it is difficult to definitively place a person in a particular stage. However, the progression is always toward a worsening of symptoms. The stages identify groups of symptoms that reflect more and more brain decay and increasing dependence on caregivers. The end result of Alzheimer's is death, whether caused by the inability of the brain to keep the body going, or by another disease or injury along the way.
No matter what stage the individual is in at the time of diagnosis, apathy is a major problem from the beginning to the very end. More than forty per cent of people in early-stage Alzheimer's show a lack of interest, initiative, and emotional involvement. In the last stage of Alzheimer's, more than ninety per cent of people are apathetic.
-Next week we'll look at the Early-stage Alzheimer's Signs and Symptoms.
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