The Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease
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The Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease www.careanswers.com
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Most often, AD is diagnosed in people over the age of 65, but early-onset Alzheimer’s can occur much earlier. There are four stages of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Transcript of The Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease
Every 70 seconds, someone develops Alzheimer’s and in 2006, there were 26.6 millions sufferers worldwide.
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• The disease is predicted to affect 1 in 85 people by 2050. • That’s why we are taking a closer look in our latest blog series to not only identify key symptom and the stages of Alzheimer’s but also to identify what family caregivers and loved ones can do for someone who is living with this disease.
So what is Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)? Imagine losing your memory so severely you forget your name and the names of those you love.
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• Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, which is serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unaffected person, beyond what may be expected from normal aging.• There is no cure for Alzheimer’s, which worsens as it progresses and eventually leads to death. • Most often, AD is diagnosed in people over the age of 65, but early-onset Alzheimer’s can occur much earlier.
There are four stages of Alzheimer’s Disease:
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• Pre-dementia • Early • Moderate • Advanced
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Pre-dementia
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• The first symptoms are often mistaken for aging or stress.• Testing can reveal mild cognitive trouble for up to eight years before an actual diagnosis of AD. • The biggest change is memory loss, which involves short-term memory loss and an inability to learn new information.• Apathy can be observed at this stage and remains the most prevalent symptom throughout the course of AD.
Early
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• The increasing impairment of learning and memory eventually leads to a definitive diagnosis. In a small portion of AD victims, problems with language, executive functions, perception and movements are more prominent than memory problems.• Older memories of the person’s life, facts learned and implicit memory (the body’s memory on how to do things, like using a fork to eat) are affected to a lesser degree than new facts or memories.
Early
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• This stage features a limited vocabulary and decreased word fluency. • The person is capable of communicating basic ideas. • Motor tasks such as writing, drawing, dressing or movement coordination may be present but are unnoticed.• As the disease progresses, people with AD can continue to do things on their own, but they may need assistance with the most cognitively demanding activities.
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Moderate
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• In this stage, deterioration stymies independence with subjects unable to perform the most common activities of daily living.• Speech, reading and writing skills are progressively lost. • Motor skills decrease, so the risk of falling increases.• Memory problems worsen, and the person may fail to recognize close relatives. • Long-term memory, which previously was available, becomes impaired.
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• Drastic behavioral changes are common, including wandering, irritability, crying, outbursts of aggression and resistance to caregiving. • According to the European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 30 percent of people with AD can become delusional. Victims can also have trouble controlling their bladder.• These symptoms can create stress for caregivers. • The stress can be reduced by moving the person with AD from home care to long-term care facilities.
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Moderate
Advanced
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• During the last stage, the person is completely dependent upon caregivers. Language is reduced to simple phrases and words, which leads to complete speech loss. • Despite this, people can understand emotional signals.
Advanced
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• Aggressiveness can still be present, but extreme apathy and exhaustion are very common. • In this stage, people are often confined to their bed and lose the ability to feed themselves. • AD is terminal, but pneumonia or other external factors are usually the cause of death.
For even more information and resources on Alzheimer’s Disease, click here. Or, to find care or support for a loved one, visit www.brightstarcare.com/lifecare.
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