World Alzheimer’s Month

What Is Alzheimer’s Disease?

Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. In most people with the disease, symptoms first, appear in their mid-60s. Early-onset Alzheimer’s occurs between a person’s 30s and mid-60s and is very rare.

Symptoms

Early symptoms include:

• Memory loss
• Misplacing items
• Forgetting the names of places and objects
• Repeating themselves regularly, such as asking the same question several times

Middle-stage symptoms include:

• Increasing confusion, disorientation, frustration, agitation
• Obsessive, repetitive or impulsive behavior
• Delusions (believing untrue things)
• Problems with speech or language (aphasia)
• Disturbed sleep

Later symptoms include:

• Difficulty in changing position or moving around without assistance
• Considerable weight change
• Gradual loss of speech
• Significant problems with short and long-term memory

Treatment for Alzheimer’s

Medical management can improve the quality of life for individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers. There is currently no known cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s

• Try to keep a routine, such as bathing, dressing, and eating at the same time each day.
• Help the person write down to-do lists, appointments, and events in a notebook or calendar.
• Plan activities that the person enjoys and try to do them at the same time each day.
• Consider a system or reminders for helping those who must take medications regularly.
• When dressing or bathing, allow the person to do as much as possible.
• Buy loose-fitting, comfortable, easy-to-use clothing, such as clothes with elastic waistbands, fabric fasteners, or large zipper pulls instead of shoelaces, buttons, or buckles.
• Use a sturdy shower chair to support a person who is unsteady and to prevent falls. You can buy shower chairs at drug stores and medical supply stores.
• Be gentle and respectful. Tell the person what you are going to do, step by step, while you help them bathe or get dressed.
• Serve meals in a consistent, familiar place and give the person enough time to eat.

 Amy Renfro, APRN-CNP
Ringling Family Care