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When you think about Alzheimer's, what do you think of first?
Which aspects of Alzheimer's are important, which are essential,
and which ones can you take or leave? You be the judge.
Alzheimer's disease slowly robs sufferers of their ability to
think and function. The degeneration is a process that exists on
a continuum from no signs and symptoms to debilitating
impairment. By breaking the process down into stages, patients
and their families will be better able to understand where they
are and what they can expect, and hopefully, this awareness will
help them cope with what lies ahead. An understanding of the
Stages of Alzheimer's Disease also improves the quality of
community support and nursing home care.
A variety of methods exist for delineating the Stages of
Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Barry Reisberg of New York University
is a frequently cited Alzheimer's disease physician who has
developed The Functional Assessment Staging (FAST) scale.
Reisberg's scale consists of 16 stages, which track the loss of
everyday abilities that healthy people take for granted, from
balancing a checkbook to using the bathroom to smiling at a
loved one. The stages begin with an awareness of memory loss and
progress to an inability to perform everyday tasks at work and
at home, leading eventually to problems with personal hygiene,
speech and movement. The decline in abilities tracked by
Reisberg resembles a regression through childhood development to
a state of almost infantile dependency, being unable to even
hold one's head up. As grim as an awareness of such degeneration
might be for caregivers, Reisberg claims that family members can
use the scales to plan for daily routines that compensate for
their loved ones' lost abilities while keeping their minds
active without frustrating them. Knowing what to expect and what
won't work for patients during the different Stages of
Alzheimer's Disease eliminates some of the guesswork and anxiety
of caregiving.
The more authentic information about Alzheimer's you know, the
more likely people are to consider you a Alzheimer's expert.
Read on for even more Alzheimer's facts that you can share.
Due to the importance of knowledge about the Stages of
Alzheimer's Disease for caregivers, research is being done on
how to improve the dissemination of information about the
disease and on how to improve awareness of the availability of
social and community support. One researcher is examining the
effectiveness of an initiative that uses a support group setting
to teach families about Alzheimer's disease and to make them
aware of resources within their communities. Another initiative
attempts to connect patients and their families with physicians
in their community who are educated not only about the disease
but also about sources of community support.
An important type of community support involves keeping
Alzheimer's patients active and connected to their communities
despite their diminishing abilities. One unique program allows
patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease to teach
lessons to children in Montessori schools. Researchers are also
developing programs for patients with more advanced Alzheimer's
disease who are in nursing homes. These programs strive to make
care giving more personal and tailored to a patient's needs and
abilities. Finally, as wonderful as community programs and
initiatives may be, they are only effective if people take
advantage of them. Research is being done on which programs are
best for people with Alzheimer's disease and how to encourage
caregivers to take advantage of these programs.
When word gets around about your command of Alzheimer's facts,
others who need to know about Alzheimer's will start to actively
seek you out.
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