Search Results for: tag cognitive impairment

Advanced Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is divided into stages in order to help people understand the progression of the disease. We’ve already looked at the earliest stages — from no cognitive impairment to the point where a diagnosis may occur. Now it’s time to look at the next stages of the disease. Stage 4 is what doctors may call “mild” or “early-stage” Alzheimer’s disease. Symptoms of moderate cognitive decline can include: Decreased knowledge of recent events. Impaired ability to perform challenging mental math — like counting backwards from 100 by sevens. Decreased ability to perform complex tasks, like planning a party or managing … Continue reading →

Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is divided into stages in order to help people understand how the disease might unfold in a loved one. However, not everyone experiences the same symptoms at the same rate! On average, a person with Alzheimer’s disease passes away within four to six years of diagnosis. Some people live on for as long as twenty more years after a diagnosis. In general, Alzheimer’s disease is divided into mild, moderate, and severe stages. Experts have developed a more detailed list, even including pre-Alzheimer’s mental states: Stage 1: No impairment. A person experiences no memory problems that are evident to … Continue reading →

Seniors and Wellness Checkups

If you are a senior citizen, you may or may not know that there is a “Welcome to Medicare” physical exam for which Medicare pays 80 percent of the cost. The reason I said you may or may not know about it is because in 2010, less than 10 percent of senior citizens took advantage of this exam. However, starting in 2011, Medicare is going to make a stab at getting seniors in for wellness checkups with a new preventative health exam. This new exam, which offers many preventative screenings and services for free, gets the patients together with their … Continue reading →

Pre-Dementia is on the Rise

A study from the Mayo Clinic looked at a mild type of memory loss that may precede Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers looked at approximately sixteen hundred adults between the ages of seventy and eighty-nine living near the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. All of the study participants had normal mental and memory function when they joined the study; within a year, more than five percent had developed some impairment. Men in the study were twice as likely as women to develop memory impairment. However, women often live longer and therefore have more time to develop memory issues. Researchers called this … Continue reading →

When it’s Time to Stop Being a Caretaker

Everyone has their own personal limits. Their own measuring stick, with a point where they just can’t take any more. My mother — who is now the primary caretaker for my grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s disease (and a host of other health issues) — chose her stopping point a long time ago. She decided that it would be time for my grandmother to go into a nursing home if my grandmother couldn’t recognize members of the family anymore. As long as my grandmother can recognize her children and grandchildren, mom is willing to jump through hoops to keep my grandmother … Continue reading →

Silver Alert

You’ve probably heard of Amber Alerts — a way of spreading the message far and wide about missing and/or abducted children. Over the last few years, individual states have been working on a similar Silver Alert program. The Silver Alert program was created to help quickly locate missing persons who suffer from dementia or other cognitive impairment. The idea is very similar to the Amber Alert: get information out quickly to local law enforcement, radio stations, television stations, and more. Criteria for issuing a Silver Alert may vary from one state to another. Here’s an example of criteria from the … Continue reading →