Symptoms

Alzheimer's disease may have different symptoms as described below. No patient develops every symptom, and the symptoms listed may also develop during other brain diseases.

Loss of Memory - Amnesia

Short-term memory is one of the first things to be affected. The person cannot remember the previous few hours or minutes. They forget what they are doing, misplace things, become disoriented, and forget the names of children and grandchildren. They cannot remember if they have eaten or not, and therefore may ask for food at odd times.

The long-term memory is not affected until later in the course of the disease. However, in the beginning you can also hear the person's description of their life and personal history becoming increasingly vague and imprecise with fewer details. Finally, the memories disappear.

Loss of Orientation and Ability to Plan - Affected Executive Function

The person with dementia loses their normal orientation, their ability to plan and their ability for abstract thought, and many develop a tendency to entrust others with responsibility and activities.

Impaired Language Function - Aphasia

The term "aphasia" means a language disorder. A persons speech changes with decreasing nouns, and by the sentences becoming jargonized and characterized by filler words. The coherence disappears, initially between sentences, then within the sentences themselves.

The person may use the wrong words when saying something and not realize it themselves.

It also becomes harder for the person with dementia to understand what others are saying, even if their hearing is intact.

The result is that the person with dementia increasingly tries to get by through guessing what is being said and by interpreting body language.

Diminished Sensory Faculties - Agnosia

The term "agnosia" means a diminished ability to recognize and identify complex stimuli. There is a progressive loss of the ability to recognize objects that are used daily, such as a comb, clock, pencil, cup, glass, etc. Nor can the person with dementia use these objects correctly and may try to brush their teeth with the comb.

The person with dementia loses the ability to recognize other people, even their loved ones, and in the end do not recognize themselves in the mirror.

Impaired Sense of Direction - Space/Direction Impairments

The person with dementia loses their sense of direction, even in familiar surroundings, and particularly in new and unfamiliar circumstances. He/she may still be able to operate a vehicle but be unable to work out where he/she is driving.

It becomes hard for them to find shops and find their way home again; to give the right amount of money when paying and to check if the change is correct.

Apraxia

The term "apraxia" means the loss of the ability to perform learned actions. It may appear in everyday activities such as having trouble using eating utensils or a toothbrush correctly, for example. Many have a hard time dressing themselves ("dressing apraxia") which may be due to problems with agnosia and impaired sense of space/direction.

Behavioural Symptoms and Depression

During the first phase of the disease, 20-30% of people with dementia may be sad and disheartened, developing into actual depression.

In Alzheimer's disease, as in other types of dementia, behavioural changes may occur. The professional term for it is BPSD ("Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms in Dementia”).

Behavioural changes may be due to a breakdown of normal brain functions. The symptoms can appear when the person with dementia is not able to adjust behaviour and thought patterns in different social situations. Not everyone develops these symptoms.

They normally develop in moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease. They often recede again after a while.

Some behavioural symptoms can be treated by modifying the surrounding environment or by changing the behaviour of carers. For other symptoms, people may benefit from medication.

Parkinson Symptoms and Epilepsy

During the later stages of Alzheimer ’s disease, people may develop muscular stiffness, or slowness and a tremor, which are all observed in Parkinson's disease and are thus called Parkinson's symptoms. It is not Parkinson's disease, however, and anti-Parkinson's medication has no beneficial effect.

Some people may develop types of seizures (often later) during the course of the disease.