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Stages of Alzheimer’s disease

Stages of Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most peculiar diseases which is not curable and worsens as it progresses. It gradually develops and effects many areas of the brain finally leading to death. This disease hampers the ability of the patient to think, memorize, judgment, problem solving ability and movement.

If someone in your family is suffering from this disease than one should deal it with utmost care and attention as it can’t be cured and requires intensive management of personal health of the patient. This disease is known as one of the most costly diseases and places a huge burden on the caregivers. One must realize that every patient suffering from this disease is different, so are the three stages this disease is divide into— pre-dementia, mild, moderate and severe. According to the updated heath facts, people have lived up to a maximum of 20 years in rarest of cases and generally up to four or five years. The most common cause of death has been pneumonia followed by complications from urinary tract infections and falls. We list here the different stages of Alzheimer’s disease so that one can take better care of their loved ones who are unfortunately suffering from this deadly disease.

Pre-dementia

In this stage, people often mistake the symptoms as an effect of ageing or stress. In this stage the person suffers from a little memory loss nothing more. Neuropsychological testing can however reveal the mild cognitive difficulties and onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Mild Alzheimer’s disease

In case of mild or early stages, the patient has trouble with memory and ability to think and act. Some common symptoms are:

  1. The patient suffers from memory loss of recent events and finds hard to learn new information. He may find it difficult to learn the simplest things around and may not able to remember the names of the people around him.

  2. Lapse in judgment, problem solving and difficulty in identifying sound source and type. May fail to recognize voice of a person and even may fail to differentiate between the voice of a animal and a sobbing child.

  3. The patient starts developing change in the personality traits. As he is not able to remember anything he starts developing agitation and starts getting irritating over petty issues.

  4. The patient finds it quite difficult to even identify the familiar places. He can’t keep a track of his belongings and often misplace them. It is a hard task to find one’s way around for a person suffering for Alzheimer’s disease in the earliest stages.

Moderate Alzheimer’s disease

In the middle or moderate stage of this disease, the patient starts getting more confused and forgetful. The caretakers need to give them more self-care and attention. The patient at the moderate stage of Alzheimer’s disease may:

Start losing track of where they are, what they own. They may even tart confusing about their friends and family members. They are just incapable of going out on their own.

  1. Experience increases memory loss. The patient starts forgetting everything including one’s personal details and starts making stories to fill in the gaps in the memory which may lead to several unwanted consequences.

  2. Need assistance in self-care such as bathing, clothing and grooming. In worse cases the patient even loses control on his/ her bowel and urine movements.

  3. Find it extremely difficult to communicate and organize right expressions. They may react awkwardly in several situation as they fail to understand what to do.

  4. Develop unfounded suspicions, fear, and insecurity. They may witness a dramatic change in their personality and behavior. Owing to such developments they may experience outbursts and might turn violent sometimes especially late in the day

Severe Alzheimer’s disease

The severe stage of this disease makes the life of the patient very vulnerable and miserable. The mental functioning of the brain declines to its lowest making the patient incapable of movement and physical capabilities. Following are the symptoms associated with the late stage of this disease:

  1. The patient loses the ability to communicate rationally as the brain is not capable of identifying what to say and where to say.

  2. Now onwards the patient requires personal assistance in almost everything he/ she does right from eating, dressing, bathing to bowel movements and other self-care stuff.

  3. Person loses the ability of movement and can’t walk without assistance. The patient can’t even sit or hold his head properly. The muscles become rigid and he experience extreme difficulty in swallowing and bowel functions.

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