Guest guest Posted November 3, 2005 Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 The Stages of Alzheimer's Disease From Christine Kennard,Your Guide to Alzheimer's Disease. 7 stages in the progression of Alzheimer's Alzheimer's Disease There have been a number of attempts to identify a medical model of the various stages of Alzheimer's disease. By describing the progress of Alzheimer's into functional stages it has been suggested that this helps caregivers meet the needs of the person with Alzheimer type dementia. It can give a guide to understanding abilities, what activities can be managed and the changes that occur to a person with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's & Functional Assessment The Functional Assessment Staging (FAST) scale, was developed by Dr Reisberg and colleagues. It divides the so-called progression of Alzheimer's disease into 16 successive stages under 7 major headings of functional abilities and losses. Stage 1. a.. Is defined as a normal adult with no decline in function or memory. Stage 2. a.. Is defined as a normal older adult who has some personal awareness of functional decline. They complain of memory deficits and of forgetting the names of familiar people and places. This might be regarded as a feature of natural aging rather tan a disease process Stage 3 of Alzheimer's Disease Stage 3. a.. Is defined as early Alzheimer's disease. a.. Characteristics of the disease are noticeable deficits in demanding job situations. Anxiety can become a feature as the symptoms and/or realization of their situation becomes apparent. Denial becomes a feature of the early stage of Alzheimer's, but memory deficits only become apparent under intensive interview. Signs include one or more of the following; the person may get lost travelling to an unfamiliar location; colleagues notice low performance; names and word-finding deficits become evident to those close to them; ability to recall information from a passage in a book becomes difficult; the ability to remember a name of a person newly introduced to them is affected; they may misplace or lose a valuable object; concentration may begin to become affected. Stage 4. a.. Mild Alzheimer's Disease. a.. Usually there is no deficit in a person with Alzheimer's disease recognition of familiar faces, in their ability to travel to places they know or their orientation in time and person. They begin to require assistance in complicated tasks such as planning a party or handling finances. They may exhibit problems remembering their lives and events and have trouble concentrating and travelling. a.. Denial and a flattening of their mood becomes a feature. People with Alzheimer's tend to back away from dealing with difficult or challenging situations.[ p] Stage 5. a.. Moderate Alzheimer's disease. a.. The person with moderate Alzheimer's now cannot get by without assistance. They need help choosing proper attire. There is some disorientation in time, in interview they may be unable to recall important information of their current lives but can still remember major information about themselves, their family and others. Stage 6. a.. Moderately severe Alzheimer's disease. a.. People with Alzheimer's by this stage of the disease start to forget significant amounts of information about themselves and their surroundings. They may forget names of their spouses, require assistance dressing, require assistance bathing properly then require assistance with the mechanics of toileting. Urinary incontinence and disturbed patterns of sleep becomes a feature. a.. At this stage of Alzheimer's, personality and emotional changes become more apparent, very apparent in some. This may be manifest in delusional or obsessive behavior, there may be acute anxiety and even violent behavior. Because people cannot remember information long enough to act on their thoughts they lose willpower (cognitive abulla). a.. Fecal incontinence may also be a feature of the disease at this point. Stage 7. a.. Severe Alzheimer's disease In severe Alzheimer's, speech ability becomes limited to just six or seven words and intelligible vocabulary limited to a single word. They lose the ability to walk, sit up, smile and eventually cannot hold up their head. The brain now appears unable to tell the body what to do. These stark predictions do mask the fact that the person is not just the disease. It is important to remember that although it is good to have an understanding of the Alzheimer stages, it should not detract you from seeing the person as an individual rather than a disease. It is important to find out what they can and want to do and compliment their individual way of coping with the disability of dementia in the best way you are able. http://alzheimers.about.com/cs/diagnosisissues/a/stages_p.htm<http://alzheimers.about.com/cs/diagnosisissues/a/stages_p.htm> "A clean house is a sign of a misspent life" -- Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.12.7/159 - Release 11/2/2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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