Many people don’t see or refuse to respond to the warning signs of Alzheimer’s. They think that forgetting things places and lapses in time are all a part of becoming senile. Many of these ageing signs are attributed to other illnesses and aging but more times than not it is attributed to just a few of the warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
Black African Americans seem to have a much higher risk of having a heart attack and stroke. These two vascular diseases involve blood vessels which are among the risk factors of Alzheimer disease. These risk factors are what health professionals are attempting to isolate and eradicate in order to reduce the growing rate of Alzheimer’s among Black African Americans. Let’s gain knowledge of some of these warning signs which are big indicators to Alzheimer’s disease.
Now we all lose our memories from time to time. Don’t get overly stressed when you forget your keys or have to check twice to make sure you closed the garage door or packed your passport. My mother always said I had a brain like a sieve. I frankly refuted this, however she was correct, I could forget things five minutes later at age 13. We aren’t talking about forgetting your friend’s birthday or forgetting to take the meat out the freezer. This is why we use the word impairment. Like any other diagnoses, this word changes everything. Do you ask the same questions repeatedly or have to rely on others, sticky notes or electronic devices to help you remember things you always knew on your own. The important phrase here is “things you use to know” as some individuals constantly need reminders due to ADD or ADHD. Do you forget that it’s Monday and you have to go the work or to some activity you always attend. Is this an occurring situation where you are reprimanded, fired or are known as the always absent phenomenun. In other words is it causing a problem with your friends, family or workplace, which inevitably impairs your life? Below are 9 warning signs you and your loved ones can look out for as we get older.
1. Issues with the normal everyday planning or solving problems
Do you have increasing difficulty solving everyday problems or planning things like a grocery list or monthly bills or maybe constantly forgetting to mail out the bills? Maybe even following directions to a usual route or following one of your basic recipes. Do you have trouble with simple numbers or calculations? Many people sometimes have trouble balancing their checkbooks due to not ever learning a correct or efficient way to do it or being terrible at math Now the important thing to understand is if you have just lost your job or some other traumatic event has occurred then this
Impairment is explicable partly due to stress and the onslaught of bills.
2. Having difficulty completing tasks at work, home or leisure.
Not remembering basic rules to a favorite game or sport. You can’t seem to drive to familiar places such as a friends or family member’s house. Doing the grocery shopping, Taking out the garbage, this does not include teenagers. This does not include occasionally forgetting to record your favorite show or if two yellow penalty flags are raise before the red flag. Speaking of red flags, a traumatic event or depression can account for the inability or difficulty to perform everyday tasks.
3. Forgetting of time and place(or disorientation to time and place)
Now forgetting where you parked your car after shopping at the mall, that happened to me more when I was in college than now. If the security guard asks you what kind of car you drive and you are having trouble remembering the color and there was no amnesic fugue, head injury, drug or alcohol intake involved then there’s a problem. One month after losing my job, I would have to ask the bank teller what day of the week it was. My usual routine of elation for the upcoming Friday and dredging the inevitable arrival of Sundays was disrupted by not having to go to work on Mondays, or Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Now that kind of disorientation is normal, actually it felt quite good until the bills came.
4. Difficulty understanding visual imagery and spatial relations.
Babies start learning this when they crawl around on the floor and come close enough to an object, then reach out to grab it. They don’t start grabbing the object before they attempt to crawl to it. Why? Because they are learning the spatial relationship between objects. Can I reach the cookie jar? Should I duck to get under the table? Later we move onto more intricate tasks like knowing how to form words on paper within the lines without having to stop between each letter in a word. Writing takes visual spatial skills, knowing where to put the pencil and motor spatial, making the pencil go where you wish. Then there’s writing down info someone is giving us and understanding when to talk in a conversation. You will know when your lunch break is over in relation to the duration of a TV show in the lounge or judging the size of a fence by visually sizing the man standing next to it. You know when there is or isn’t enough room to sit between two people. My Grandmother would not only talk out of turn but had no idea of the social conversation cues when someone was trying to interject, including saying, “may I interject.” She would also miss steps not understating the continued spatial difference between each. Now clumsiness or being a klutz is common but not a sudden or steady, gradual decrease in spatial understanding.
5. Problem with words
Many people with Alzheimer’s have difficulty remembering words in a sentence or writing. They may even stop and forget the words they were going to use and have to repeat themselves. Like playing the piano and missing a note, may cause you to not be able to continue or have to repeat the chords until it all of a sudden comes to you. Calling things by the wrong names like calling a “watch” a “clock in your hand.”
Don’t panic; If you always had trouble remembering names or if you are forgetting names more often as you get older, remember that as more information is collected into our heads the more difficult it will be to remember.
6. Misplacement of things, difficulty retracing steps.
We usually misplace things from time to time. Keys, wallet, phone are some of the common items. We use a technique which helps us remember where we could have left the items in question. It is called “retracing”. We retrace our steps from the moment we came home, went directly to the bathroom, then sat on the couch, went to the fridge, and voila!, there it is next to the orange juice.
An individual with Alzheimer’s has trouble retracing his or her steps. They misplace items and swear they have not, often accusing others of theft.
7. Poor judgment
Giving away money to individuals such as sales people or telemarketers without much thought. They may pay less attention to certain grooming habits and good hygiene.
8. Withdrawal from activities.
This could include social activities and or work activities. This could be due to forgetting how to play certain games or complete favorite hobbies. It could be due to impairment in communication skills including spatial relationships. They may realize something is wrong and do not wish others to find out or worry. Depression can be one contributing factor with or without Alzheimer’s being a factor. So it would be important to rule depression out if this is one of the major impairments in daily living.
9. Mood swings or changes in personality
Many people who have experienced firsthand the behavior of a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease, knows all too well the sometimes erratic behavior attributed with the disease. Many individuals with Alzheimer’s can become easily confused, frightened, anxious, belligerent, and depressed. Every month, I would take Rosie, an elderly lady suffering from Alzheimer’s, to the doctor. She was used to the 20 minute ride. However on occasion she would demand to be taken home but not to her actual home, but the home she remembered as a child, in Germany. I would pull up to the garage; she would turn to me and say, “Why we are here again, let’s go home.” I would ask where that was. She would calmly say with a smile on her face, “You know where I live, what’s wrong with you. If you keep forgetting, I’m going to have to get someone else to drive me from now on, dear.” Then she’d shake her head with disappointment.
Alzheimer’s can be heart breaking for the spouses and relatives. I would laugh many a times and marvel at the things my late Grandmother and Rosie would say. I also cried many times when my grandmother got angry and lashed out then cried when she realized what she had done. Or when Rosie would be told she no longer lived in Germany on Crooweiner Street, and I would watch her cry like a child.
It is difficult to admit when someone is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s but there are medications and other ways to maintain the mind. It will only get rapidly worse if the symptoms are ignored.
Now that you know some of the signs of Alzheimer’s disease you can share this knowledge with your loved ones old and young. So that any changes they see in themselves or others can be quickly addressed a most of all it won’t be one of those secrets families sweep under the rug. Everyone will be on the same page.
