Perfectly Awesome Life

*information from the Alzheimer's Association.

 

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other intellectual abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 50 to 80 percent of dementia cases. 

 

Alzheimer's and dementia are not a normal part of aging. Although the greatest known risk factor is increasing age, and the majority of people with Alzheimer's are 65 and older. But Alzheimer's is not just a disease of old age. Up to 5 percent of people with the disease have early onset Alzheimer's (also known as younger-onset), which often appears when someone is in their 40s or 50s.

 

Alzheimer's worsens over time. Alzheimer's is a progressive disease, where dementia symptoms gradually worsen over a number of years. In its early stages, memory loss is mild, but with late-stage Alzheimer's, individuals lose the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to their environment.

 

Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Those with Alzheimer's live an average of eight years after their symptoms become noticeable to others, but survival can range from four to 20 years, depending on age and other health conditions.

 

Although current Alzheimer's treatments cannot stop Alzheimer's from progressing, they can temporarily slow the worsening of dementia symptoms and improve quality of life for those with Alzheimer's and their caregivers. Today, there is a worldwide effort under way to find better ways to treat the disease, delay its onset, and prevent it from developing.  

 

Many people find the changes in behavior caused by Alzheimer's to be the most challenging and distressing effect of the disease. The chief cause of behavioral symptoms is the progressive deterioration of brain cells. However, medication, environmental influences and some medical conditions also can cause symptoms or make them worse.

In early stages, people may experience behavior and personality changes such as:

• Irritability

• Anxiety

• Depression

 

In later stages, other symptoms may occur including:

• Anger

• Agitation

• Aggression

• General emotional distress

• Physical or verbal outbursts

• Restlessness, pacing, shredding paper or tissues

• Hallucinations (seeing, hearing or feeling things that are not really there)

• Delusions (firmly held belief in things that are not true)

• Sleep Disturbances

 

Triggering situations

Events or changes in a person's surroundings often play a role in triggering behavioral symptoms.

Change can be stressful for anyone and can be especially difficult for a person with Alzheimer's disease. It can increase the fear and fatigue of trying to make sense out of an increasingly confusing world.

 

Situations affecting behavior may include:

• Moving to a new residence or nursing home

• Changes in a familiar environment or caregiver arrangements

• Misperceived threats

• Admission to a hospital

• Being asked to bathe or change clothes

 

Identifying what has triggered a behavior can often help in selecting the best approach to deal with it.