Alzheimer’s Disease Primer

Posted June 12, 2006 12:00 pm.

This article is more than 5 years old.

Here’s some detailed background on what you need to know about this devastating ailment.

It’s a disease that can virtually erase a lifetime of memories and destroy a person’s ability to make decisions and carry out daily activities.

Whether it’s your parent, another relative, or a parent of a friend, more than 50 percent of Canadians know someone with Alzheimer’s disease, and nearly 300,000 Canadians over the age of 65 are currently coping with the degenerative illness, according the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

Here’s a list of things you should know about Alzheimer’s:

What is Alzheimer’s disease?

It’s a degenerative brain disease that causes brain cells to shrink or even disappear, which are replaced by dense and irregularly shaped spots. Another indication of the disease is thread like tangles between brain cells that can choke off healthy cells.

As the disease progresses, it can cause a number of changes in a person’s behaviour and personality, including hallucinations, delusions, suspiciousness, anxiety or agitation.

But even though the disease results in changes, it doesn’t affect a person’s ability to experience feelings of joy, love, fear, or sadness.

Sporadic Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of the disease and accounts for 90 to 95 percent of all cases.

Familial Autosomal Dominant Alzheimer disease occurs in five to 10 percent of cases, and in some families it’s passed from one generation to the next.

The changes to the brain:

The Alzheimer Society of Canada says changes in a person’s behaviour can be a sign that there’s been damage to the brain. For a look at how Alzheimer’s alters that organ, click here.

The effects:

(courtesy of the Alzheimer Society)

Mental

A person’s ability to understand, think, remember and communicate will be affected
The ability to make decisions will be reduced
Simple tasks that have been performed for years will become more difficult or be forgotten
Confusion and memory loss, initially for recent events and eventually for long-term events, will occur
The ability to find the right words and follow a conversation will be affected

Emotional:

A person may appear uninterested and stop hobbies or other activities previously enjoyed
They may quickly lose interest in an activity
The ability to control mood and emotion may be lost
Some individuals have less expression and are more withdrawn

Behaviour:

repeating the same action or words
hiding possessions
physical outbursts
restlessness
inappropriate sexual behaviour

Physical

The Alzheimer Society says the disease can affect a person’s physical co-ordination, making it difficult, or impossible to perform daily tasks such as eating, bathing and getting dressed.

The 10 warning signs:

1. Memory Loss

While it’s normal to forget things once in a while, such as appointments and names, this will happen to people with Alzheimer’s more often. A person will begin to forget recently received information more frequently and won’t be able to recall it later.

2. Difficulty Performing Daily Tasks

It’s normal to occasionally walk into a room and forget why you went there, or forget about a pot boiling on the stove once, but for people with Alzheimer’s, the disease prevents them from performing familiar tasks they’ve been doing all their lives, such as cooking or making a phone call.

3. Language Problems

We all struggle to find the right word sometimes, but people with Alzheimer’s will often forget very simple words and substitute others, making their sentences and writing hard to understand.

4. Disorientation of Time and Place

Sometimes we have to ask someone “What’s the date today again?”, when we briefly forget. For Alzheimer’s patients it’s more severe as they can get lost on their own street and in their neighbourhood and they may have no recollection of how they got there and not know how to get home.

5. Poor, or Decreased Judgment

It’s not unusual for people to make poor decisions now and then, like putting off a trip to the doctor when we feel ill. This is heightened in Alzheimer’s patients as they may step out on a bitterly cold day without being dressed properly, or not recognizing a medical problem that needs attention.

6. Problems With Abstract Thinking

Balancing your chequebook can be frustrating when you’re tired or distracted. People with Alzheimer’s though may forget what numbers are used for or what they mean.

7. Misplacing Things

We all lose our car keys from time to time. Alzheimer’s patients may put things in strange places, like placing their jewelry in the freezer, or an iron in the fridge.

8. Mood or Behavioural Changes

It’s not unusual to experience mood swings, but people with Alzheimer’s can go to extremes for no apparent reason.

9. Personality Changes

We all change a little with age, but for those suffering from Alzheimer’s, these shifts are more pronounced. They can become withdrawn, confused, suspicious and apathetic.

10. Loss of Initiative

Work can tucker us out, but someone with Alzheimer’s may sit in front of the television for hours and may require prompting to do things.

Here’s a look at some of the differences between Alzheimer’s and normal age-related memory changes courtesy of the Alzheimer’s Association (U.S.)

Someone with Alzheimer’s symptoms:

Forgets entire experiences