Signs that Your Elderly Parent May Have Alzheimers Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) starts slow with the usual first sign of mild forgetfulness. However, most with mild forgetfulness do not have AD.

Examples of this early stage mild forgetfulness will be trouble remembering:

  • recent events or activities
  • how to solve simple math problems
  • the names of familiar people or things

Although your parent’s forgetting may be bothersome, not usually so much to cause your alarm.

As the Alzheimer’s progresses, symptoms become more noticeable. Forgetfulness begins to interfere with daily activities. Your parent may forget how to do simple tasks like brushing their teeth or hair, or have the inability to think clearly (brain fog), or fail to recognize familiar people and places, or have problems:

  • writing
  • reading
  • speaking
  • understanding

Later on, Alzheimer’s may cause your elderly parent to become anxious or aggressive, or wander away from home, to the point of eventually needing around the clock total care.

No treatment has been proven to stop Alzheimer’s, however early detection may provide an opportunity to slow down the progression with drugs. For some in the early and middle stages of the disease, the drugs tacrine, donepezil, rivastigmine, or galantamine helps prevent some symptoms from becoming worse for a limited time.

Additionally, some medicines may help control behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer’s, such as:

Treating these symptoms often makes patients more comfortable and makes their care easier.

« »