Getting to know the various stages of Alzheimer’s disease is a frustrating process, especially if you are the one living through the affliction. Sufferers of this disorder endure mental strain and confusion as their memory becomes unreliable and spotty, their learning capabilities diminish, and their overall sense of self and the things they once knew become awkwardly hard to grasp. Knowing a stage of Alzheimer’s is fast approaching, many sufferers fear the worst.
The reality of this disease often leaves little room for hope because there is no cure and no adequate treatment that can help curb the confusing episodes of memory loss and loss of faculty. Alzheimer’s is a part of dementia, which affects the elderly, and often leaves the sufferer feeling insane or crazy because they do not understand what is happening to them or how they can escape the feelings of despair and hopelessness.
Identifying The Stages Of Alzheimer’s
There are several indicators that Alzheimer’s disease may be in approaching. These are called “stages” and most physicians agree on the appearance of these stages and how to identify each Alzheimer’s stage as distinctive from the others. The stages are as follows:
Normal function – this traditionally is seen as the stage of normality or “the calm before the storm”. Not really an actual symptom in itself, this stage of Alzheimer’s disease is often left off of most lists.
Very mild cognitive decline – this is the introduction of some mild memory loss. Individuals experiencing this stage of Alzheimer’s may have familiarity some lapses in memory as oppose to entire losses of it.
Mild cognitive decline – this stage is the stage in which the actual diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is sometimes introduced. With this stage, many people experience problems such as difficulty finding names of those familiar, social or work performance issues, losing valuable objects, or retaining little information from read passages.
Moderate cognitive decline – this stage of Alzheimer’s involves observable deficiencies in the memory behavior of the patient. There is decreased knowledge of memorable events, impaired ability to do arithmetic or other equations of comparison or “common sense” ideas, abridged reminiscence of personal history, and the notion of becoming socially withdrawn becomes apparent and obvious.
Moderately severe cognitive decline – there are major gaps and declines involved with this stage. Those experience this stage are often not able to recall key items such as their home address, maiden name, or even the day of the week. Usually, however, there is full functionality of the faculties and they are able to live without much assistance.
Severe cognitive decline – this is clinically associated as “mid-stage Alzheimer’s” and relates to the continual worsening of the memory. There is often sleep disruption associated with this stage of Alzheimer’s.
Very severe cognitive decline – this is associated as “late-stage Alzheimer’s” and seriously undermines almost all cognitive and motor abilities. Patients experience incontinence of urine, lose their capacity for speech, and often experience irrational muscle movement associated to the brain, literally, forgetting how to move. This is often seen as the final stage of Alzheimer’s disease.
