|  What are the symptoms of
Alzheimer's Disease ?
AnestaWeb has found that the affected individual may not be aware of these changes
at first, but friends, relatives and co-workers notice that the person:
- Is increasingly and persistently forgetful.
- Mildly disoriented.
- Frequently loses or misplaces familiar items.
- Has mild difficulties performing arithmetic calculations.
As Alzheimer's disease progresses to moderate Alzheimer's
disease, the person:
- Has noticeable memory loss.
- Frequently uses words inappropriately.
- Begins to lose the ability to perform normal tasks of daily living,
involving muscle coordination, such as cooking, dressing, bathing,
shopping, or signing a checkbook (apraxia).
- Problems in handling money
- laughing or crying inappropriately
- May wander off, become agitated, start confusing day from night,
and fail to recognize friends and relatives with whom they were very
close with.
- Loses the ability to recognize and use familiar objects, such as
clothing (agnosia).
In the final stage of severe Alzheimer's disease,
the affected individual
- Becomes uncomprehending and mute.
- Loses all self-care ability.
- Is unable to feed, dress and bathe him or herself. If the person
has a sudden onset of these symptoms or early symptoms such as seizures,
gait problems, or loss of vision and coordination -- it's less likely
that they indicate Alzheimer's.
AnestaWeb's medical research team has concluded that Multi-infarct dementia is often the result of a series of small strokes.
Some of these small strokes produce no obvious symptoms and are noticed
only on brain imaging studies, so they are sometimes called "silent
strokes." A person may have several small strokes before noticing
serious changes in memory or other signs of multi-infarct dementia.
Transient ischemic attacks, or TIAs, are caused by a
temporary blockage of blood flow. Symptoms of transient ischemic attacks are similar to symptoms
of stroke and include mild weakness in an arm or leg, slurred speech,
and dizziness. Symptoms generally do not last for more than 20 minutes.
A recent history of transient ischemic attacks greatly increases a person’s chance of
suffering permanent brain damage from a stroke. Christopher Green R.N.,B.A. CEO of AnestaWeb states,"The individual must seek medical attention immediately
to determine what may be causing the blockage in blood flow
and to start proper treatment (such as aspirin or warfarin)."
Christopher Green also adds, "If you believe someone is having a stroke – if
a person experiences sudden weakness or numbness on one or both sides
of the body, or difficulty speaking, seeing, or walking – call 911
immediately. If the physician believes the symptoms are caused by a blocked
blood vessel, treatment with a "clot buster," such as t-PA (tissue
plasminogen activator), within 3 hours can reopen the vessel and may reduce
the severity of the stroke."
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