Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Signs and Symptoms

Alzheimer's disease usually appears after the age of 60. The first symptom tends to be memory lapses, especially for recent events or newly learned information. Memory lapses may be very subtle at first, but leads to more significant gaps and confusion. Eventually, the disease leads to severe brain damage that impairs a person's ability to complete everyday tasks as well as to reason, learn and imagine.

People with Alzheimer's experience difficulties communicating, learning, thinking and reasoning -- problems severe enough to impact their work, social activities and family life.

One of the most common early signs of dementia is memory loss, forgetting information that has been recently learned. While it can be normal to forget appointments, names or telephone numbers, individuals with dementia have more severe deficits in memory. They often find it hard to complete everyday tasks that are so familiar that most people ordinarily wouldn't think twice about how to do them. Alzheimer's disease may cause a person to forget how to prepare a meal, use a household appliance or to participate in a lifelong hobby.

Symptoms

Some symptoms of Alzheimer's disease include:

• Abstract Thinking -- Balancing a checkbook may be hard when the task is more complicated than usual. Someone with Alzheimer's disease, however, might forget what the numbers are and what needs to be done with them.

• Disorientation -- It's normal to forget the day of the week or where you're going. People with Alzheimer's disease can become lost on the street where they live, forget where they are and how they got there, and not know how to get back home.

• Initiative -- People often tire of housework, business activities or social obligations at times. However, a person with Alzheimer's disease may become excessively passive, sitting in front of the television for hours, sleeping more than usual or not doing usual activities.

• Judgment -- No one has perfect judgment all of the time but those with Alzheimer's disease may dress without regard to the weather, wearing several shirts or blouses on a warm day or very little clothing in cold weather. Individuals with dementia often show poor judgment about money, giving away large amounts of money to telemarketers or paying for home repairs or products they don't need.

• Language -- All of us have trouble finding the right word from time to time, but people with Alzheimer's disease often forget simple words or substitutes unusual words, making their speech or writing hard to understand. If a person with Alzheimer's is unable to find his or her toothbrush, for example, the individual may ask for "that thing for my mouth."

• Misplacing Items -- Anyone can temporarily misplace a wallet or key. A person with Alzheimer's disease may put things in unusual places -- an iron in the freezer or a wristwatch in the sugar bowl.

• Mood Changes -- Everyone can become sad or moody from time to time. However, someone with Alzheimer's disease can show rapid mood swings -- from calm to tears to anger -- for no apparent reason.

• Personality -- Personalities ordinarily change somewhat with age but a person with Alzheimer's disease may have a severe personality change, becoming extremely confused, suspicious, fearful or dependent on a family member.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Last updated February 12, 2008