Alzheimer’s disease it is one of the conditions that put a significant number of people in difficulty worldwide. The consequence of Alzheimer’s disease is the progressive decline of thinking and all social skills. The figures speak of the fact that somewhere between 60% and 80% of dementia cases are the result of Alzheimer’s disease.
It is important to point out that this condition is mainly found in the case of elderly people. Knowing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in order to contact a specialist doctor from the early stages of the disease is very useful.
The main symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease
Memory loss is among the first indications that a patient may be facing Alzheimer’s. Initially such episodes of memory loss are minor and often patients do not consider this a problem. But if the disease progresses, the memory loss becomes more serious. Patients may experience memory loss involving recent memories. When familiar places or the names of very close people become unknown to patients, it is obvious that the disease has already advanced quite a bit.
Vision problems complement the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Reading with difficulty, misjudgment of distances or misperception of certain aspects of an image can be clues that lead you towards the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. These symptoms are complemented by problems in solving daily tasks. These difficulties concern both professional life and personal life. Practically, Alzheimer’s patients will have difficulties in solving even the most trivial tasks.
The symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are complemented by major behavioral changes. Manifestations such as anxiety, depression, apathy, antisocial behavior or total distrust in people, all of these can be behaviors that indicate that a patient may be affected by Alzheimer’s. Including a high degree of irritability within changing behaviors can complete this list of symptoms.
The list can continue with positioning certain objects or things in unnatural places, but also making simple decisions with great difficulty. It is important that in any of these manifestations or symptoms, the patient is referred to a medical clinic where evaluations can be made regarding Alzheimer’s disease.
Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease
Unfortunately, this condition can only be diagnosed after several evaluations, precisely because many of the symptoms are confused with other problems or are ignored. Different methods are used to make the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, among them cognitive evaluation, imaging markers and biological evaluation.
This condition can have different stages, depending on how advanced it is. The first stage is the mild form, which is diagnosed quickly and is manifested by a slight memory impairment for recent aspects of everyday life.
The second stage is the moderate one and we are talking here about a moderate form of dementia. Confusion, memory loss or the need for help with certain daily tasks are characteristic of this stage of the disease. The severe form is the most serious stage. In this situation, the patients face a mental function that constantly worsens and they reach the impossibility of communicating coherently.