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Warning… Warning! Recognize the Signs

An Alzheimer's patient may have the disease for years before any symptoms show up indicating they have it. Early detection of Alzheimer's and Dementia is important. While there is no cure of the disease (yet), there are medications to slow the disease. That's why it's earlier the better as far as detection goes! So be aware of what to look for in yourself and loved ones.

Alz.org has a great chart on their website for knowing the 10 signs of Alzheimer’s.  Below are those 10 signs too, but through the eyes of a caretaker. Hope it helps!

Memory loss that disrupts daily life.
The biggest sign is memory loss but not normal memory lapses. For example, I had foot surgery and the recovery took months. Back then Pat didn't live with us but stopped in almost every day. Some days she acted surprised about my foot, like she didn't know I had it done. And of course, she probably didn't.  And then other days she did. That is the problem with Alzheimer's. It's not consistent. More severe examples are her rapid weight loss because she forgot how to prepare food, even a sandwich, for herself.

Challenges in planning or solving problems.
For the last couple months before she moved in with us, I paid her bills. We also started going through her wallet because she kept taking money out of her bank account every couple days and would end up carrying a lot of cash in her pocketbook. It was a scary time for her. I think she just stopped doing everything and paced back and forth in her apartment when no one was around. One problem she could never solve was her car headlights. She couldn’t figure out how they came on and would try the radio, windshield washers and the automatic buttons.

The ability to make plans or solve problems is difficult. Someone with Alzheimer's may stop making meals, paying their bills, or showing up on time. Often, we would need to call Pat a few times before she would come to our house. We didn't realize at the time that it was taking her so long to form a plan, get ready, and come up. We noticed her bills and recycling piling up because it was just too much for her to take.

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When Mark and I would go to have supper with Pat, we noticed she wasn't taking care of anything. She stopped doing dishes, recycling, laundry, everything. It was almost like it was too much for her to do so she just wouldn't do anything. She always used to read the entire paper and do the Jumble and Crossword puzzles. She continued to do the Jumble but stopped doing the crossword, not because she didn’t know the answers, but because she wouldn’t write them down. She figured them out in her head and wouldn’t continue if one stumped her.

Confusion about time or place is a common sign too. Pat is and was very confused about times of events, dates and places. She drove for a long time but we noticed the places she actually went decreased and eventually she started getting lost when going to easy spots.

This has gotten much worse since Pat has moved in. She now becomes confused about what month it is thinking it is July when it is in the middle of winter. She also thinks she is in New Hampshire, where her daughter lives, when she is really in Maine with us. And the year is different every time we talk.

Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships.
A fleck of dirt can confuse some Alzheimer's patients, making them think it is a bug. Or they can have the illusion that the ground is wet when it's shaded from the sun. Pat doesn't understand when we pause a movie. She thinks the television is broken. She’ll stare at something, like a candle, for what seems like forever until someone asks her what she is looking at. And she will reply with something far-fetched like, “I was watching the cat in that fire jar.”

New problems with words in speaking or writing.
Pat confuses her words all the time. She'll call the cat a dog or come out before bed and say, "okay I'm going to night." Also, when she writes her name, she goes between lowercase and uppercase. She capitalizes the "t" in Patricia… and sometimes the "a" too but nothing else.

Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps.
Pocketbook, boots, coat, container for dentures and hair net with bobby pins are the things we keep track of throughout the day. In my opinion, it's a security thing. I know it isn't though. She forgets looking for it, finding it, and where she's already been. She finds her slippers and it makes her think of her boots. She finds them and it makes her think of her coat. She sees her slippers on the way to her room and it makes her think of her boots. I put it all where she can see it. One by one as the questions go.

Decreased or poor judgment.
Before Pat moved in with us, her poor judgment is what alerted us to Alzheimer's. When we would stop to check in on her, things weren't right. She would put empty containers in the refrigerator, wash her TV dinner containers, and eat Little Debbie snacks for meals. She had stacks of papers, bills, etc. Her food would be expired and still in the refrigerator.  Now that she lives with us, we see WAY more. Some examples are wearing shorts in the winter, grabbing dirty dishes to use, and wiping EVERYTHING down with her washcloth.

Withdrawal from work or social activities.
As Pat's condition became painfully worse, we watched her distance herself from everything. She would drive by our house, but not stop in. We would have to stop her and coax her in for supper. I didn’t realize at the time it was because she was starting to slip away from us. She stopped going bowling too. Something she did for 40 years. I think it was because she thought she wouldn’t remember people or how to bowl or worse, how to get home.

Changes in mood and personality.
This is the worst part of Alzheimer's. The person you knew is gone. Pat was always a strong woman who laughed a lot. Now, she is worried all the time. It's rare when she smiles. She still is friendly with me but at times I get a glimpse of the way it could go. Flashes of anger at her son and tears over simple tasks show me how difficult it may get.

It's hard to look at Alzheimer's and see the signs, but it gives you the weapons to fight against it. The earlier you catch it, the more you can do to prolong more symptoms. You can read more about the top 10 signs at Alz.org.

Categorized: Alzheimer's

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• Said and Done
• All Gains End
• The Things I've Learned From Pat

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