William W. Lee, Ed.D.

Licensed Clinical Psychologist

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

What's It All About

As the poet Carl Sandburg said, the fog comes on little cat feet. First you notice that you're always misplacing things, or that common nouns are evading you as stubbornly as the names of new acquaintances. Pretty soon you're forgetting appointments and getting flustered when you drive in traffic. On bad days you find you can't hold numbers in your mind long enough to dial the phone. You try valiantly to conceal your lapses, but they become ever more glaring. You crash your car. You spend whole mornings struggling to dress yourself properly. And even as you lose the ability to read or play the piano, you're painfully aware of what's happening to you. Then the fog thickens. Your own children come to look like strangers, and terrifying delusions migrate freely from your dreams into waking consciousness. Eventually your limbs, bowel and bladder escape your control. You drift into silent stupor, and after a year or two of bedsores and diaper rash, you stop swallowing food. Death, when it comes, is a formality.

When this disease was first described in 1906 by a German psychiatrist, is was quite rare. Most people died young enough to avoid it. But life expectancy has risen dramatically and the burden of Alzheimer's has grown accordingly. Some 4 million Americans - one in five of those age 74 to 84 and nearly half of those 85 and older - are now afflicted. By one estimate the number of U.S. Alzheimer's sufferers will approach 6 million by the end of this decade and could hit 14 million by mid-century. The average cost of caring for a person with Alzheimer's throughout the course of the disease is estimated to be $174,000.

Alzheimer's is still hard to predict and today's treatment provide only modest relief, if that. But the story is changing with recent critical discoveries about how Alzheimer's destroys the brain, and drug makers are pursuing new remedies. There is no foolproof way to diagnose Alzheimer's in a living person. When a person is showing signs of dementia, it is necessary to rule out other possible causes such as strokes, tumors or vitamin deficiencies.

Watching for Warning Signs - Three Stages of Symptoms

Early Stage

Middle Stage

Late Stage

Onset is very slow and gradual and seldom before age 65. Symptoms progressively become more severe over what is typically a 6 to 8 year period, although cases exist within the range of 2 to 20 years.

Consult your family physician for initial assessment and to rule out any physical causes. A referral for a cognitive assessment may be indicated. Seek information through the Alzheimer's Association and any local support group or services geared toward the elderly and their family.