Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia in the United States, meaning that it leads to a decline in a person’s cognitive abilities. Over time, this can lead to an individual losing their ability to carry out day-to-day activities like having conversations or even remembering to eat.
Coping with the disease can be very overwhelming but getting to know the different stages of Alzheimer’s can help you to manage and deal with it better.
Stage 1: Pre-Clinical Alzheimer’s Disease
There is generally no treatment for this stage as there are minimal symptoms. At this point, it is important for regular visits to your doctor to pick up the earliest signs of the disease.
Stage 2: Basic Forgetfulness
At this stage, it can still seem like regular forgetfulness where your loved one has lapses in memories. As the disease progresses, these memory lapses will occur more frequently. The sooner you get treatment, the larger your chance to slow down the progression.
Stage 3: Noticeable Memory Difficulties
For many people, this stage will be the first that brings about noticeable changes that cannot be blamed on age. The memory lapses will increase in severity where they may have problems remembering things they just interacted with or even more difficulty retrieving memories of the past. Consulting your doctor about the different treatment options at this point will be crucial.
Stage 4: Symptoms Progress Beyond Memory Loss
Symptoms at this stage will extend beyond memory loss, affecting difficulties with language, calculations, and organization. This can start to affect their ability to perform day-to-day activities and will have significantly more difficulties with memory loss. On top of this, social events can start to get harder as they struggle to process conversations, leading to the onset of mental disorders like depression.
Stage 5: Decrease in Independence
This is the first stage where your loved one may no longer be able to live alone. Emotional changes are very common during this stage, causing issues like paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations. They can struggle with learning new things and basic tasks like feeding themselves will become almost impossible.
Stage 6: Severe Symptoms
During stage six, communicating will be difficult to the point where they may not be able to even inform others that they are feeling pain. Significant changes in their personality may also take place and they may not even be able to respond to stimuli.
Stage 7: Loss of Physical Control
Alzheimer’s is a disease that destroys brain cells. At this stage, they will need round-the-clock care and they will struggle with their mobility and any form of thinking or communicating. On top of this, their body will also be vulnerable to infections and diseases due to their decreased mobility and ability to take care of themselves.
Choose Mariposa for Quality Memory Care
When it comes to Alzheimer’s, there is never a bad time to consider memory care. In a memory care community, each resident can get individualized care in a secure environment with professional team members. Each of our trained professional staff members will be able to facilitate lifestyle building programs, beautiful living conditions, and research-based techniques to minimize cognitive decline as far as possible. On top of this, we have on-site medical and therapy services to ensure that adequate support is given for all those who need it.
For more information about our memory care program, housing availability, or amenities, contact us today.