Alzheimer’s was discovered a long time ago by Dr. Alzheimer as he
examined patients that exhibited bizarre behaviors that could not be
explained and were often placed into mental institutions. Unfortunately,
Alzheimer’s is a fatal brain disease and one of the most common forms
of dementia known today. If you or someone you know has Alzheimer’s they
will experience the loss of many functions and usual abilities that
they once were able to have normally, such as memory loss and
intellectual capabilities and discernment.

Also, Alzheimer’s
occurs in a series of stages, so it can often be difficult to catch as
some of the symptoms coincide with normal things that tend to happen as
people get older, such as having a hard time remembering things from
time to time.

The first stage of Alzheimer’s presents absolutely
no symptoms at all and that is why it can never be caught. It allows the
person to function totally normally and patients who have this will
experience no memory loss or any problems. That means that this will not
be diagnosed by any health care professionals if taken at this stage
because it is absolutely not presenting itself in any form. Chances are
people will not even go and seek a health care professional at all
because they will experience no impairments in stage one. That is why it
is good to seek care if you have a relative who has Alzheimer’s,
particularly a parent or grandparent, so you know that it is something
to be aware of.

Stage two offers mild symptoms such as slight
memory loss about names, places and where they put things. The brain may
start to be affected by the disease in little ways and the patient will
not remember things that used to be pretty clear to them. However, even
though some symptoms begin to show, that does not mean that this will
help it be diagnosed, because many people attribute the signs that
appear in stage two as normal signs of aging and getting on in the
years.

In stage three, similarly, there is mild cognitive decline,
as well, but finally the signs shown are enough to maybe secure a
diagnosis of the disease. For instance, patients will have a hard time
remembering the names of family or friends and not be able to remember
names of anyone new they encounter. This will create some performance
problems at work or in social aspects as they will not always remember
what to do or how to do it. At this stage, if this is really unusual
behavior for the person, they can go and get it checked out and maybe
even diagnosed.

In stage four, this is when Alzheimer’s is usually
diagnosed as people cannot remember events, occasions or even the
current events around them. They are unable to do mental math and they
can no longer do tasks that require a lot of thinking or planning, such
as paying bills or working on hosting a party. People forget their own
personal history and often get depressed and melancholy.

Steps
five and six only get worse as people can no longer remember current
details about their life and usually get confused about the time, the
place, the date, and their surroundings. As it gets worse, they will be
unable to recognize the people around them or even know who they are
themselves. They will need help getting dressed and will not be able to
perform ordinary activities without assistance.