The Three Stages of Alzheimer's Disease

There are three distinguishable stages when it comes to Alzheimer's disease. These stages will progress slowly or quickly depending on how far into the disease the patient started taking medication to treat the disease. Each stage is distinguishable by several symptoms. Alzheimer's is not usually diagnosed in the first stage; this is unfortunate, however, because this is when the majority of the medication is the most effective against the disease.

The first stage of Alzheimer's disease brings in the lightest batch of symptoms. Memory loss, forgetting familiar people, and a shortened memory span are all symptoms of the first stage of Alzheimer's. You may witness patients in the first stage of Alzheimer's disease forgetting where they keep everyday items and as the degrading of the brain cells increases there will be more cognitive and behavior problems. There may be times when the person is found wondering aimlessly. You may witness patients start to hide things in odd places.

The second stage of Alzheimer's disease is more serious and will have an increased number of affects on the individual and the family of the person infected. The new additions to the disease are forgetting recent events, may start forgetting patients own history, and they may make something up to replace any forgotten history in their life. People suffering from the second of the stages of Alzheimers disease will often have difficulty attaching a name to someone's face.

Patients in the mid level of Alzheimer's disease will start to lose their ability to function in society. The victim of the disease will often forget what season, date or year, it is. A patient might even forget about what time of day it is. The individual's conversation will start to degrade, as following other people's lines of logic will be next to impossible. Urinary and fecal control will start to be an issue as well.The third stage of Alzheimer's disease is the worst in way of symptoms. During this stage the changes that have occurred in the last two stages will continue to a greater degree. Recognizing friends and family members will becomes almost impossible. Victims in the last of the stages of Alzheimer's will need constant care. It is common for people in this type of condition to be completely dependant on help to complete all of their daily activities. Weight loss and seizures become imminent, as the person is bed ridden. It is possible at this point that all care will have to be transferred to professional care professionals rather than family members as Alzheimer's patient care becomes a matter of life or death at this point.
Source:
http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_stages_of_alzheimers.asp , Alzheimer's Association