Alzheimer's disease can affect mood and personality by causing depression, irritability, anger, outbursts or hallucinations, especially in the later stages. This can be extremely hard on caregivers, especially if people with Alzheimer's behave very differently than they did before the disease. Caregivers can feel as if they are caring for a whole different person.
Alzheimer's Disease Warning Signs & Symptoms
Early signs of Alzheimer's disease include forgetfulness and trouble finding words, but this also occurs with normal aging. What distinguishes the person with early Alzheimer's disease is development of new psychological symptoms. Energy and engagement in every day life may diminish. These symptoms can become so severe that they may interfere with the ability to carry out more difficult tasks, such as handling finances or driving a car. Knowing the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease can help you or a loved one identify whether or not you are at risk and put you on the right path to treatment.
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Dr. Daniel R. Spogen, MD , Family Medicine, answered on behalf of Univ. of Nev. School of Medicine, Family Medicine -
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Dr. Daniel R. Spogen, MD , Family Medicine, answered on behalf of Univ. of Nev. School of Medicine, Family Medicine
Alzheimer's disease can affect emotional response in a number of ways. Early Alzheimer's might cause symptoms of irritability, anxiety or depression. Later on, a person might not recognize loved ones, or might not be able to follow a conversation and might have an inappropriate response because of this. Sometimes these symptoms can be treated with medications such as antidepressants.
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NorthShore University HealthSystem answeredSee All 8 AnswersThe most common symptoms associated with Alzheimer's disease are memory loss, disorientation and an inability to reason. Some people may also develop insomnia or even begin to hallucinate. Over time, the symptoms worsen until those affected by the disease can no longer take care of themselves.
Eventually, Alzheimer's disease will result in complete memory loss. There are several other symptoms to look out for as well:- Changes in personality
- Trouble using language
- Trouble performing routine daily tasks
- An inability to think abstractly
- Loss of judgment
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredSee All 12 AnswersWhen it comes to brain problems, it's not easy to diagnose yourself or a loved one. Yes, you'd like to write off a memory lapse as a natural part of aging, and in many instances, it is. But this checklist of the seven early signs of Alzheimer's can help you decide whether you or a family member needs further attention. Do you:
- Ask the same questions over and over?
- Repeat the same story over and over (and not because your kids are tuning you out yet again)?
- Forget how to do something that you normally can do easily?
- Get lost in familiar surroundings?
- Misplace things often?
- Neglect to bathe?
- Rely on someone else to make decisions you'd normally make yourself? (Not applicable to men married more than a decade.)
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Shelley Webb , Nursing, answeredSee All 5 AnswersIt’s estimated that more than 10 million senior citizens require some level of help in their daily living, ranging from simple chores to more complex caretaking. Many of these people will suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, but for others, difficulties arise from the typical age-related changes many of us will face eventually. Understanding which is the case for your loved one is the first step to deciding which services will benefit your aging family member most.
One sign of Alzheimer’s disease is poor judgment and decision making, for example, giving large sums of money to telemarketers. On the other hand, a typical age-related change involves making a bad decision once in a while.
The inability to manage a budget after years of doing so may signal Alzheimer’s, especially when bills are repeatedly unpaid or the person has no knowledge of his checkbook balance. Missing a monthly payment occasionally is more closely associated with typical aging.
People with Alzheimer’s can lose track of dates, seasons and the passage of time, or may forget where they are or how they got there. On the other hand, many of us will forget what day it is occasionally, but we figure it out later and don’t usually experience the confusion someone with Alzheimer’s may.
While many elderly (and some not so elderly) will have trouble finding the right word at times, people with Alzheimer’s may have trouble following or joining a conversation. They may stop in the middle of a sentence and have no idea how to continue. They may struggle with vocabulary, have problems finding the right word, or call things by the wrong name.
People with Alzheimer’s may put things in unusual places or lose things and be unable to go back over their steps to find them again. This happens with increasing frequency and involves much more than simply misplacing the television remote once in a while, which is more typical of common aging. -
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Dr. Richard S. Isaacson, MD , Neurology, answeredThe at-home SAGE Test is pretty effective when it comes to detecting early stage Alzheimer's symptoms. In this video, neurologist Richard Isaacson, MD, explains why it's important to bring the results to a doctor for further testing and screening.
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Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD , Cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease), answeredSee All 3 AnswersSymptoms of Alzheimer's start out with forgetfulness (usually spotted when a person cannot remember the way home when in the neighborhood). A person may lose short-term memory-often telling you a story from their past multiple times in 15 minutes.
It then progresses to the point in which the person forgets major recent events (such as a presidential election) or recent things about themselves (such as a birthday celebration). Sadly, the person will continue to become more disoriented and confused until they can't remember their family members' names or faces, or their own.
Even in advanced stages, however, many people with Alzheimer's will still be able to remember remote events because long-term memory is the last to disappear. -
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Dr. John H. Growdon, MD , Neurology, answeredSee All 2 AnswersCognitive abilities are the "thinking" activities of reasoning -- solving problems, making decisions, exercising judgment, and so on. Impairments of cognitive function can begin subtly as poor performance in an activity the person once did well. Poor judgment and lack of insight can lead to accidents.
Early in the Alzheimer's disease, individuals may easily lose track of time; later, their disorientation becomes more pronounced and extends to places and people. The sense of time becomes more distorted as the disease progresses, and people may insist it's time to leave immediately after arriving at a place or may complain of not having been fed as soon as a meal has ended. -
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Dr. John H. Growdon, MD , Neurology, answeredSee All 2 AnswersProgressive memory loss is the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Initially, only short-term memory for recent events is impaired, and the person merely seems forgetful. But because short-term memory is essential for absorbing new information, the impairment soon interferes with the ability to interact socially and perform one's work. Long-term memory may be retained longer, often in great detail, but it becomes fragmented as the disease progresses. Toward the final stage, people with Alzheimer's may be unable to recall their own names.
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Clinical syndromes develop in late-stage Alzheimer’s disease. These include things like aphasia (difficulty with language), agnosia (trouble recognizing objects) and apraxia (difficulty carrying out visual/spatial movements).