Life With Alzheimer's Disease

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Life with Alzheimer’s disease “Alzheimer’s disease is a disorder of the brain resulting in a progressive decline in intellectual and physical abilities and eventual dementia” ("alzheimer disease"). Alzheimer’s usually happens to individuals who are older than fifty years of age. This does not necessarily mean it will happen, but the older one gets the higher his or her chances are of getting it. Nobody has control over getting Alzheimer’s; it just happens naturally. Alzheimer’s is not an easy disease to live with because of its progression, and even though this disease has treatment, it does not seem to help. (1) Through observations and research, Dr. Alois Alzheimer discovered Alzheimer’s disease. (3) In 1906, Dr. Alzheimer was making observations on an older woman who was having symptoms that made Dr. Alzheimer believe she had a mental illness.(3) What confused him was that he did not know what type of illness it was.(1) It was something he had never seen before.(3) After the woman died of the unknown illness, Dr. Alzheimer started to observe her brain tissue.(1) He found a lot of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in her brain, which are now two huge factors in Alzheimer’s disease ("Alzheimer's Disease Fact Sheet”). (1) There are many symptoms that can help doctors and family members understand if their loved ones or patients have Alzheimer’s.(3) For example, the most common symptom that people with Alzheimer’s have is memory loss.(1) Memory loss increases as the disease progresses.(1) Patients forget the simplest things and are unable to recognize familiar faces.(1) Another symptom is mood swings.(3) It is common for patients with Alzheimer’s to constantly move around because they get uncomfortable in a short amount of time and pace around the house.(2) They become really irritated and upset for no apparent reason, and they have numerous mood swings in a short amount of time.(1) Also, patients often have money trouble.(3) Some patients may have difficulty paying bills and along with that, managing a certain budget.(1) Patients also may not be able to understand what numbers mean or represent.(1) Furthermore, patients may have difficulty communicating with others.(1) They will call things the wrong name and are unable to think of the word they want to use and end up getting confused. (3) Patients can invent their own words and think it means something in their mind when in reality the word does not exist.(1) Furthermore, people with Alzheimer’s lose their motor skills and sense of touch.(1) They eventually can become weak and will not be able to do simple tasks like buttoning their pants.(1) Patients will have really shaky hands and feet and feel numbness throughout their whole body ("25 Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease”).
(1) Alzheimer’s has many characteristics that play a prominent role in the disease. (3) There are seven stages that happen as Alzheimer’s Disease progresses.(1) The first stage is the no impairment.(1) In this stage, the patient does not notice any change in his or her life.(3) He or she act normal and have no memory problems because it is early in the stage.(1) The next stage is the very mild stage.(1) Patients may feel like they are starting to forget familiar words.(3) However, friends and family may not be able to see any change in the patient because it’s still early in the disease.(1) The third stage is the mild cognitive decline stage.(1) Family members and co-workers of the patient may be able to notice differences in the patient by this time.(3) Patients also start to have problems with remembering the names of people that they barely met.(3) They may also be unable to remember where they left their valuables and belongings.(1) The fourth stage is the moderate cognitive decline stage.(3) During this stage, the patient may not be able to remember recent events that happened as well as having difficulty with numbers and counting.(1) Patient starts to lose knowledge of
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