Dementia and Alzheimers

Alzheimer’s Disease , How does it start?

Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia that causes gradual loss of a person’s mental abilities. It is the most common form of dementia. It initially affects the cerebral cortex and often starts off as simple forgetfulness. Alzheimer’s disease affects the parts of the brain that control such everyday activities as thoughts, memory and language.

As the disease progresses, the person’s personality may undergo a complete transformation for the worse. The ability to think and function normally may be almost fully lost.

Alzheimer’s disease symptoms

In the early stages, a victim of Alzheimer’s disease is quite often found to be in a confused state, and facing problems with short-term memory. There are usually problems with paying attention and in terms of spatial orientation.

Mild forgetfulness is often the first symptom to be seen. Then, it becomes more obvious when people begin to have trouble remembering more recent activities and events. Or, they may have more trouble remembering familiar people, places or things.

In the next stage, the victim of Alzheimer’s starts seeking assistance to carry out those tasks that require heavy lifting. Their speech starts getting affected and quite frequently they stop abruptly after saying half a sentence. Depression, irritation and restlessness are some of the common traits during this stage of illness.

Symptoms become more serious. As simple tasks become harder and harder to do, individuals realize there may be a problem and seek medical advice. Things like not remembering how to brush your teeth or how to tie a shoe become increasingly more difficult. They may not be able to think clearly, may become anxious or even aggressive.

In the advanced stage it becomes difficult for the patient to distinguish between day and night or even recognize the faces of very near and dear ones.

In the last stage of the disease, patients merely exist. They experience total loss of memory and they are unable to eat properly and cannot control themselves to any great extent. Constant care is needed for a patient at this stage.