What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Alzheimer's Disease?
James Davis
Alzheimer’s is the most prevalent form of dementia. It is a
disease that affects memory and reduces the quality of life of
its sufferers. It usually affects people over sixty-five. There
are over 4.5 million people in America with Alzheimer’s and that
number may increase four fold as the baby boomers age.
There is no known cure for Alzheimer’s but progress in the area
of quality of life has been made, and there is hope that some
day drugs currently being researched may bring a cure.
The beginning stages of Alzheimer’s starts with general
absentmindedness, for example, forgetting recent events or
directions. Then it becomes worse until they forget the names
of objects they use daily or family names. They forget where
they put things or where they placed things for “safe” keeping.
They forget what they have just said and repeat stories.
For those affected, conversations are not easy to follow and
the right words are difficult to find. In the early stages,
they may also find it hard to express what they are feeling and
in later stages it will affect their ability to write and read.
Alzheimer patients may develop skills such as dealing with
numbers. Abstracting thinking improves but they are disoriented
and lose track of time. All surrounding feel unfamiliar to them.
People affected with Alzheimer’s will have difficulty with
daily problems, like decision making and planning, for example
they might start to burn food or have trouble with hygiene.
Their personality may change which is very upsetting to watch.
They may become depressed and have mood swings, they might
become suspicious, stubborn, withdrawn, aggressive, and even
display inappropriate behavior.
One such example was, a well loved and respected great
grandmother who had a dramatic change in behavior. She was put
in a nursing home and as the disease progressed she became
worse. She would use language none of her family heard her use
before. She would creep into other patients rooms and leave
them undressed. She’d never remember who visited her or who
they were when they came. The family put a board in her room
and each member who visited would write their name and date so
she could see.
But for most people, recognizing a loved one is suffering from
Alzheimer’s, only occurs when they are in the advanced stages
because the personality changes are not usually so sudden and
symptoms are gradual.
The usually survival rate is eight years but that depends on
the person. Some live less, others can go on for more than
fifteen years. No matter how long they live, the responsibility
of taking care of the individual is placed on their relatives
and they face the difficult decision of choosing whether to
take care of the patient at home or place the individual in a
facility. It’s a hard choice to make and either way to deal
with a person in such a condition, takes a lot of patience,
love and empathy.
About The Author: James Davis is a staff writer at
http://www.wellness-digest.com
and is an occasional contributor
to several other websites, including
http://www.ultimate-relaxation.com.
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