Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and dementia is a progressive illness of the brain. When someone has dementia, his or her brain cells are damaged and die faster than they normally do. Often it affects the memory first.
Alzheimer’s Disease is not a blanket term for all cases of dementia or ‘senility’ but a very ‘specific disease process’. Hippocampus – This part of brain is principally responsible for memory and it is the hardest hit in AD, though all parts of brain are equally vulnerable. An abnormal protein Betaamyloid raises in number that destroys the nerve cells and the stage is set for AD.
10 Warning signs of Alzheimer’s Disease:
- Recent memory loss that affects job skills
- Difficulty in performing familiar tasks
- Problems with language
- Disorientation of time and place
- Problems with abstract thinking
- Poor or decreased judgement
- Misplacing things
- Change in mood or behaviour
- Changes in personality
- Loss of initiative
Early stage:
- Loss of recent memory
- Disorientation of time and space
- Signs of depression and aggression
- Difficulties with language
- Becomes lost in familiar places
- Loss of interest in hobbies and activities
Middle stage:
- Patient becomes very forgetful
- Becomes extremely dependent
- Needs assistance with personal hygiene
- Wanders and may get lost sometimes
- Unprovoked aggression
Advanced stage:
- Patient becomes totally dependent and inactive
- Does not recognize relatives, friends and familiar objects
- Unable to find out his or her way around in the home
- Suffers bladder and bowel incontinence
- Confined to a bed