Alzheimer’s Disease Description

Early-Stage Alzheimer’s

• Trouble remembering recent events and conversations
• Difficulty remembering the month or day of the week
• Loss of ability to manage finances
• Withdrawal from social situations and general apathy
• Cooking and shopping become more difficult
• Poor judgment – difficulty making wise decisions
• Tendency to lose things
• May become disoriented in familiar surroundings

Middle-Stage Alzheimer’s

• Difficult behaviors emerge
• Anger, suspiciousness, overreacting and paranoia (e.g., believing that family members are stealing money or spouse is having an affair)
• Wandering
• Repeating questions or statements
• Sundowning (i.e., restlessness or agitation in the evenings)
• Fear of bathing
• Hallucinations
• Eating problems
• Incontinence
• Hoarding belongings
• Inappropriate sexual behavior
• Violent behavior
• Will go from needing help choosing clothes and remembering to change clothes to needing help getting dressed.
• Will progress from needing reminders regarding personal care to needing help bathing, taking medication, brushing teeth, toileting, etc.
• Increased difficulty in verbal expression and comprehension
• Spatial problems (e.g., having trouble setting the table)
• Loss of reading, writing and arithmetic abilities
• Loss of coordination
• Will need care or supervision 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• May not recognize family and friends at times

Late-Stage

• Inability to communicate
• Inability to recognize people, places and objects
• Cannot participate in any personal care activities
• Loses ability to walk
• Loses ability to smile
• Muscles may become contracted
• May lose ability to swallow
• Seizures may occur
• Weight loss
• Majority of time spent sleeping
• May exhibit a need to suck on items
• Incontinence