The Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease
There are many things the medical community understands about Alzheimer’s disease and many things it doesn’t yet know. For example, it’s not clear why some people with Alzheimer’s disease experience faster decline than others. Early Alzheimer’s diagnosis and treatment may help to slow progression of Alzheimer’s symptoms.
Stage 1
A person in this stage will usually be aware of the diagnosis and will be able to participate in decisions affecting future care.
Stage 2 (Minimal Impairment)
You or your loved one might be experiencing some lapses in memory or other cognitive problems, but neither family nor friends are able to detect any changes. A medical exam would not reveal any problems either.
In this stage, some people become restless and pace or wander.
Registering the person with the Safely Home™ — Alzheimer Wandering Registry program will provide peace of mind should she become lost.
Stage 3 (Early Confusional) Mild cognitive decline. Earliest clear-cut deficits.
Manifestations in more than one of the following areas:Patient may have gotten lost when traveling to an unfamiliar location;Co-workers become aware of patient’s relatively low performance;
Word and name finding deficit becomes evident to intimates;
Patient may read a passage of a book and retain relatively little material
Concentration deficit may be evident on clinical testing. Objective evidence of memory deficit obtained only with an intensive interview. Denial begins to become manifest in patient. Mild to moderate anxiety accompanies symptoms.
Stage 4:
Moderate cognitive decline
(Mild or early-stage Alzheimer’s disease)
At this stage, a careful medical interview detects clear-cut deficiencies in the following areas:
Decreased knowledge of recent occasions or current events
Impaired ability to perform challenging mental arithmetic-for example, to count backward from 75 by 7s
Stage 5. Moderately severe cognitive decline: It is a moderate or mid-stage AD with major gaps in memory and deficits in cognitive function. Assistance with daily activities may be required and the following deficiencies are observed:
The patient fails to recall current address, telephone number, and name of the college or school from which they graduated.
The patient is in a confused state of mind with regards to their current location, date, day of the week, season etc.
Stage 6 tage is considered severe or mid-stage. Memory difficulties continue to worsen and significant personality changes may emerge. He may lose awareness of recent experiences and events as well as of his surroundings; recollection of his personal history becomes imperfect, but the patient may know his name. The patient may occasionally forget the name of his spouse or primary caregiver, but can distinguish familiar from unfamiliar faces. He may need help getting dressed properly.
Stage 7 (Severe/Late-Stage Alzheimer’s) - In the final stage, people can no longer respond to the surrounding environment. They may be able to speak words or short phrases, but communication is extremely limited.
