As promised in Part 1, here are some of the early warning signs of Alzheimer's disease.
One thing that is very important to remember (no pun intended):
Just because you forget someone's name you just met or lose things doesn't necessarily mean you have Alzheimer's. There are other forms of dementia, and sometimes it's just a case of selective memory. For instance, people with ADD/ADHD might forget certain things or miss smaller details because their brains are working much faster than other people's. It's possible for someone with depression or bipolar disorder to experience dementia that improves or goes away with treatment, and Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases can cause memory impairments. And, well, sometimes we don't remember something because it's really not that important anyway. :) Only your doctor can tell for sure whether any dementia or memory loss is caused by Alzheimer's and not something else.
- Memory loss. When I say 'memory loss', I'm talking about forgetfulness that gets in the way of your daily life. They might be able to remember a speech they gave at their high school graduation, but not remember what their kids' names are or what their address is. This gets worse as the disease progresses.
- Losing things and not being able to retrace your steps. We all misplace our keys every once in a while, but we can usually figure out where we were last time we had them. People with Alzheimer's are unable to do this. They may also accuse someone else of stealing from them or put things in really odd places, like the TV remote in the refrigerator.
- Difficulty with your daily tasks. Most of us will occasionally forget things like how to operate the toaster oven or get lost while driving, but someone with Alzheimer's will forget these things on a regular basis, no matter how many times you tell them. They may also have problems with hygiene or dressing themselves.
- Problems with planning and problem-solving. Related to the above, a person with Alzheimer's may have difficulty working with numbers or following directions. For instance, they may have problems following a recipe they've done many times before or keeping track of their spending.
- Language or communication problems. Anyone can get lost in a complicated conversation or have trouble with finding the right words, but a person with Alzheimer's may constantly repeat themselves or stop talking mid-sentence and forget what they were going to say. They may also forget what common object is called-for instance, calling grape juice 'that purple stuff' or forget how to read.
- Problems with visual or spatial images. Many people may have problems seeing things up close or far away as they get older, but a person with Alzheimer's might not be able to identify colors. Also, they may have a problem with depth perception and judging distances, which causes problems for things like driving and walking up and down stairs.
- Losing track of time or place. A person with Alzheimer's may go somewhere and forget how they got there. This is where wandering off is a problem. They may also lose track of large chunks of time, such as thinking that Ronald Reagan is still the president or that their long-dead spouse is picking up dinner.
- Judgement. We all mess up sometimes, but a person with Alzheimer's will make uncharacteristically bad decisions or forget general rules of caution. This includes things such as sending a lot of money they don't have to a televangelist or taking something out of the oven with their bare hands.
- Uncharacteristic mood swings or withdrawal from people and activities. This one can be very difficult to pin down because these are also symptoms of other conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder. However, it may come up suddenly in people who have no history of these problems. They may get anxious about things that are not happening, such as thinking they're being spied on by the government. They may also get angry and violent for no reason at all or lose interest in their favorite hobbies.
If you have ever seen someone you love go through these changes, you know that it is one of the saddest and most fearful things in the world. While there is no cure for Alzheimer's, there are treatments that can help a person and his/her caregivers get the most out the life they have left. I will discuss these in the next post.
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