Everybody forgets where they put their keys or their cell phones but with an Alzhiemer’s patient, the condition is much worse. Forgetting appointments, discussions, names of people, not being able to find the way home even when two or three blocks away from the same are all alarming signals.

Alzheimer’s patients lose track of what year or what time of the day it is. They begin to confuse the past with the present and lose sense of orientation. They begin to lose consciousness of surroundings since the disease affects the brain’s ability to recognize what is seen.

Alzheimer’s patients start forgetting words that are used to identify objects and thus find it very difficult to communicate the simplest of things like, “Get me water.” Since their communications skills are so compromised, they cannot take an active part in conversations and, thus, lose their skills further.

Patients tend to forget the concepts of language and numbers. It’s almost impossible for them to perform simple arithmetic functions like addition. It’s difficult for them to remember names of numbers. Paying bills, refilling gas, calculating the bill at a supermarket or even counting money become difficult tasks.

The cerebral cortex, that has decision making centers, starts disintegrating. Thus, the decision making ability of Alzheimer’s patients is greatly reduced.

The lack of confidence and self assurance makes the patients depressed and withdrawn. Patients become disinterested in pursuing any activity.

Interaction starts diminishing and reaches almost a bare minimum with patients. They can’t communicate their feelings and, thus, feel inadequate in terms of social acceptance. Locomotion is affected and so is cognition. Alzheimer’s patients are known to go into complete social withdrawal without reacting to any social or personal stimulus.

Sleeping for hours together without a plausible reason or not sleeping at all are symptoms of Alzheimer’s. The changes in sleep patterns are very common and seen in stage two of the disorder.

Patients tend to wander in known environments. They get lost in familiar areas and cannot find their way back home.

Patients lose control over their temper and tend to be grumpy. Their control over conscious behavior fades. Anger,distrust in others, irritability,aggressiveness and stubbornness become very common. 

The patients often lose bladder control. They sometimes grunt or moan involuntarily. Their ability to control their voices gets affected by the degeneration of the cortical tissues.