Forgetting birthdays or misplacing your phone is not anything to raise an alarm for. But when your forgetfulness becomes a usual habit or if it starts disrupting your #life, you should weigh your options – could it be the Alzheimer’s disease?
Although people think that Alzheimer’s only affect the old people, it is, in fact, not true. People in their 30’s and 40’s also suffer from AD which is known younger-onset Alzheimer’s. As of today, there is no cure of the disease and there is no proof to indicate that preventing Alzheimer’s is possible.
Nonetheless, knowing that you or your loved one may be suffering from it can get you help and ease the symptoms. Alzheimer’s is fatal; there have been no survivors yet and patient’s life is painful when it snatches his/her ability to find the way home, connect to people, talk, eat and walk as it kills their #health and brain cells. That is why it is more important to diagnose it early and help those who would need it the most.
Alzheimer’s association has researched the common signs to help in Alzheimer’s diagnosis which have been described below.
1. Memory Loss
Forgetting things is one of the most common and early signs of Alzheimer’s. People rely on notes or reminders to remember events and may ask the same information again and again. With progression of the #disease, they start losing their way home, stop recognizing family and friends, forget meals, how to dress, walk, talk and worse.
2. Confusion
Patients suffering from Alzheimer’s lose the track of time or place and find it difficult to understand something. They have troubles managing their money and solving problems. Also, they get confused and do activities that seem bizarre. These errors are not occasional and thus, you should definitely get yourself or others tested if this may be the case.
3. Poor Judgment
People with Alzheimer’s pay less attention to grooming or cleaning. As the disease spreads, they make poor judgments like when dealing with money or wearing heavy clothes on a warm day or not realizing medical problems. These decisions may seem inappropriate, silly or irresponsible to the others but the patient will not comprehend it or even accept it.
4. Change in Mood
The personality of the patients gets altered. He gets more suspicious, depressed or anxious and gets upset very easily. In addition to that, the patient will stop the activities he previously enjoyed and withdraw from social activities or projects. It may be because they can’t remember their favorite teams or how to do something. It is often seen that patients misplace things and when they cant find it, they accuse others of stealing.
5. Aggression
It is common with Alzheimer patients to get agitated and turn violent. Sometimes, this lead to verbal accusing, calling names, shouting, threatening and cursing. In many a cases, they can also get physical and hurt people around them. This behavior is caused by trivial issues which the family doesn’t get because it is out of nowhere but always has a reason.
Here you can find list of famous people who died of Alzheimer's disease:
http://www.ranker.com/list/famous-people-who-died-of-alzheimer_s-disease/reference
Great post! My grandma's has Alzheimer. :/ She used to be kindest of all. Never cursed or verbally accused anybody. Now she is sometimes uses aggressive language verbally accusing her daughters. Also se asks same question's repeatedly and also cursing sometimes also...
Thanks @vorsseli
Hope you have a lot of patience to help your mother and continue to love her as you can.
My mother is a sufferer - it rapidly got worse during the winter - she wasn't too bad last September, but this April she had given up on just about everything - cleaning, bathing, putting the trash out, etc. etc.
Basically she now just eats and sleeps - she can't even comprehend the cooking instructions of ready meals
I live a long way away from her and only see her a few times a year
She won't accept that there is anything wrong with her
She's destined for a nursing home - just a matter of time now before the local council take action as they know she's not taking care of herself, and has been brought home twice by the police
I lost my dad in 2014 after almost 10 years fighting against this disease. For me the worst was seein him loose his identity completely. Day after day he became more locked inside his mind. No one deserves to end one's life without remembering about his history. What a waste... #sad
Another sign of Alzheimer's disease is a marked decrease in the sense of smell known as anosmia.
Thanks for your post. My father has this also (nine years since first symptoms). One of the other notable symptoms/features of this illness I observe is the complete loss of sense of time. 3am is the same as 3pm, my Dad will decide he wants to eat at 5am and then not want his lunch etc. He will want to sleep during the day and stay up all night. Sleep is restricted to one -two hour spells at most at a time.
The worst is the complete sense of helplessness you feel and experience when dealing with sufferers. Nothing registers any more.
I have read in UK national papers of 2 impending breakthroughs, one pill based (American research) and one some sort of sonic "blasting" to break up/reverse/remove the brain "plague". Sorry I don't have the references to hand. I also read yesterday that a "Mediterranean" diet supposedly helps in earlier stages.