Alzheimer’s disease – mild stage

Tags

Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's disease, apathy, clumsiness, judgment, language problems, misplacing things, poor concentration, short-term memory loss

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

The second stage or mild stage of Alzheimer’s disease is where learning and memory impairments get a little worse and more noticeable to family, friends and colleagues. Symptoms include short-term memory loss, difficulty learning new things and poor concentration.

A doctor will be able to measure memory loss through testing and will often diagnose a person with Alzheimer’s at this stage. But a person can still clearly remember old times, things they’ve already learnt, and how to do day to day activities.

Some people at the mild stage suffer language problems such as a more limited vocabulary, or their speech is less fluent. Others can show signs of clumsiness in their daily activities, such as dressing, washing and eating, although they can still do most of these basic tasks quite satisfactorily.

Other common symptoms at this stage of Alzheimer’s include forgetting names and words, reduced comprehension ability, difficulty making decisions and becoming less organized. Work performance may not be quite as good.

Things are often misplaced, for example, a person might put their keys in the oven or wallet in the washing machine. Judgment can be poor, so driving a motor vehicle might be a problem.

Apathy appears in at least forty per cent of sufferers at this stage. A person might forget to eat or eats too much, or they might hoard things.

Some “benefits” include falling asleep easily and being more immune to colds.