- Age
- Family hereditary factors
- Genetics
Symptoms
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease progress slowly but completely over time. Sometimes these symptoms are confused with other conditions and may initially be put down to old age.
Physical symptoms include:
- infections
- stroke
- delirium
- difficulty eating and swallowing (dysphagia)
- difficulty changing position or moving around without assistance
- weight loss – sometimes severe
- unintentional passing of urine (urinary incontinence) or stools (bowel incontinence)
- gradual loss of speech
- significant problems with short- and long-term memory
Other symptoms may also develop, such as:
- increasing confusion and disorientation – for example, getting lost, or wandering and not knowing what time of day it is
- obsessive, repetitive or impulsive behavior
- delusions (believing things that are untrue) or feeling paranoid and suspicious about carers or family members
- problems with speech or language (aphasia)
- disturbed sleep
- changes in mood, such as frequent mood swings, depression, and feeling increasingly anxious, frustrated, or agitated
- difficulty performing spatial tasks, such as judging distances
- seeing or hearing things that other people do not (hallucinations)
- some people also have some symptoms of vascular dementia
Treatments for Alzheimer’s
Although Alzheimer’s has no current cure, symptoms can be managed with proper care and attention.
Current Alzheimer’s treatments cannot stop Alzheimer’s progression, they can hold off the worsening of dementia symptoms and improve the overall well-being of the patients and their caregivers.
BDO’s Black History of Health series is designed to show the correlation between the health of historical black figures and Black Americans today. Many of the health disparities we currently experience have been in our community for centuries.
This series is meant to bring these conditions to the forefront and provide Blacks with preventative and management steps to reduce these disparities and improve the overall health of the Black American community. It’s time to change the narrative.