Search Results for: blog about alzheimers disease symptoms and diagnosis

Advanced Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is divided into stages in order to help people understand the progression of the disease. We’ve already looked at the earliest stages — from no cognitive impairment to the point where a diagnosis may occur. Now it’s time to look at the next stages of the disease. Stage 4 is what doctors may call “mild” or “early-stage” Alzheimer’s disease. Symptoms of moderate cognitive decline can include: Decreased knowledge of recent events. Impaired ability to perform challenging mental math — like counting backwards from 100 by sevens. Decreased ability to perform complex tasks, like planning a party or managing … Continue reading →

Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is divided into stages in order to help people understand how the disease might unfold in a loved one. However, not everyone experiences the same symptoms at the same rate! On average, a person with Alzheimer’s disease passes away within four to six years of diagnosis. Some people live on for as long as twenty more years after a diagnosis. In general, Alzheimer’s disease is divided into mild, moderate, and severe stages. Experts have developed a more detailed list, even including pre-Alzheimer’s mental states: Stage 1: No impairment. A person experiences no memory problems that are evident to … Continue reading →

Alzheimer’s Disease: Hallucinations

As Alzheimer’s disease advances, a person may begin to experience hallucinations. These sensory experiences seem completely real to the person with Alzheimer’s disease. The most common hallucinations involve sight (seeing something that isn’t really there) and sound (hearing something that isn’t really there). That doesn’t mean the other senses can’t be involved too. Hallucinations can also involve taste, smell, and touch. What should a caretaker or family member do if a loved one is having hallucinations? Your response can vary depending on several things: What is the hallucination? Is it upsetting the person? Frightening them? When a hallucination is upsetting … Continue reading →

Angry and Helpless as My Mom Loses It

As I wrote in a recent article, my mom is beginning to battle Old Timer’s (a.k.a. Dementia or Alzheimer’s) like her mother did, which makes me angry. But I’m not angry at the disease. I’m angry about a lot of other things. Angry at Losing Her Now As I commented on one of Aimee’s articles about this issue I had to stand by and lose my grandma to this disease before she actually passed. Now it’s happening with my mom. I’m angry about that. Angry at My Mom I’m angry at my mom because she refuses to take steps to … Continue reading →

Alzheimer’s Disease: Forgetting Your Partner

Former U.S. Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor is happy that her husband is in love with another woman. Last year, O’Connor left her seat on the U.S. Supreme Court to look after her husband John, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. John O’Connor has been slowly losing his memories to the disease for the last seventeen years. Although the O’Connors have been married for fifty-five years, John has started a new relationship with a patient at a care facility in Arizona. Experts say that it is not common for Alzheimer’s patients to start new relationships. People who suffer from the … Continue reading →

How Old Lady Jail Is Helping My Grandmother

This spring, we finally got an official diagnosis for my grandmother’s memory problems: Alzheimer’s disease. The doctor started her on Aricept and encouraged the family to find a Senior Care Center for social stimulation. My grandmother was not happy about this development. She called it the “looney bin” and “old lady jail” and put her foot down: she was not going to go. We coaxed and cajoled; we blamed it on the doctor. Finally, we put our collective feet down. The staff gave us a copy of the schedule, and we tried to get my grandmother excited about upcoming events: … Continue reading →

Too Many Baby Boomers are Facing Alzheimer’s

A new report from the Alzheimer’s Association has some bad news about the future of Alzheimer’s disease. Right now, more than five million Americans are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease — including as many as 250,000 people under the age of sixty-five. By 2010, the Alzheimer’s Association predicts that there will be five hundred thousand new cases reported each year. By 2050, the Alzheimer’s Association predicts that there will be one million new cases of Alzheimer’s disease annually. The bad news focuses especially on baby boomers. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that ten million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer’s disease in their … Continue reading →

Here We Go Again…Another Woman in My Family Battles Old-Timer’s

Aimee’s Watching a Loved One Lose Time article really struck a chord with me. In addition to leaving a comment on her article, I also PM’d her to tell her how much it hit home and why. She encouraged me to share my story here, so…I took her up on it. My Grandma My grandma started showing signs of Old Timer’s (a.k.a. Dementia or Alzheimer’s) in 1992. Unlike Aimee did with her grandma, I never lived with mine but I did help with her care as best as I could. You see, at that time I was still going to … Continue reading →

Watching a Loved One Lose Time

When I started writing for the Families.com Health Blog, I was living with my grandmother and acting as one of her primary caretakers. Among a laundry list of other health issues, my grandmother has Alzheimer’s disease. In the three years I lived with her, my grandmother’s disease seemed to progress quickly. She went from the occasional “senior moment” to more concerning behaviors like leaving the stove on, forgetting to take her medicine, and hiding her purse in strange places. My grandmother has entered a new stage of Alzheimer’s disease, one I call “losing time”. You might call it living in … Continue reading →

What Aging Does To Your Brain

A lot of things are going on in your body at any one time — and every single one is controlled by your brain. No part of your body is immune to aging. As the years add up, your brain is changing. Neurons — the nerve cells in your brain — start to diminish in size and in number. Over the years, your brain volume decreases. That means your ability to recall details and facts slows down. Tangles are fibers that develop inside neurons. They can knot up and kill nerve cells. Plaques are sticky proteins that can build up … Continue reading →