There are not many people who would claim to never have had a spot of trouble remembering a word or name. How does one know when it goes from being just a touch of absent forgetfulness to an all-out Alzheimer's symptom? The first thing you need to understand is that a couple of symptoms alone Alzheimer's make not. Diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer's are diagnosed in people who have severe memory loss in a way that doesn't seem to get better. It isn't just Alzheimer's that can cause memory loss. There are many a regular causes that can bring on a spot of memory loss as well - a vitamin B deficiency, a thyroid or kidney problem, for instance. You need to know more about how the symptoms of Alzheimer's work, to be able to tell when it is an Alzheimer's-like problem, and when it is something you can fix with everyday care.
Certainly, memory loss features prominently among the symptoms of Alzheimer's that you need to be aware of. While memory loss does occur in older people, aging is never supposed to bring on serious memory loss or confusion. Older people can tend to be a bit depressed or stressed out by their circumstances. These are things that can cause anyone to be a little forgetful. This is not to be mistaken for dementia or something though. Everyone forgets the exact details of what went on in a conversation after a while. That has nothing to do with Alzheimer's. A person with the dreaded disease descending on them will not only forget the exact details, but also the very fact that a conversation occurred or what went on in the conversation. The fact that they forget a conversation occurred in the first place, makes them repeat themselves. One mustn't think that the symptoms of Alzheimer's progress in a predictable way. An elderly person can be deeply forgetful of some things one day and then remember them right back the next.
While memory loss gets pride of place among the various fearsome symptoms of Alzheimer's that there are, there are other reliable indicators as well. People with Alzheimer's coming on, begin to appear to lose their peace of mind. They fidget a lot, they seem to feel overwhelmed by what is around them, and they are filled with tiredness and fear. Here is an important indicator of Alzheimer's - people beginning to come under its influence begin to lose their judgment. Which, if you think about it, is particularly unfortunate. Confidence tricksters usually target elderly people with their schemes. With impaired judgment, they fork over large sums of money to unworthy people - telemarketers, people peddling silly investments and so on. And they will also begin to mistrust people for no reason - like refusing to pay a legitimate bill because they believe that the company is not to be trusted.
That inability to trust can lead to contradictory behavior. On the one hand, they will often show child-like behavior where they cling to people, walking around behind them all around the house. They just feel completely lost, and confused. They just can't feel comfortable by themselves. But then again, they can get really aggressive, calling names, threatening, and even physically hurting. The question usually comes about because they are very confused and scared.
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