What Are The Different Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease?

Alzheimer’s disease also known as AD is one of those peculiar diseases that can last for many years. In some cases a person may have this disease for quite some time without even realizing it. This is because many of the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease are often associated with being the result of simple old age. Although this may be true in some circumstances it is not always the case.

AD is a disease that tends to progress slowly and exhibits a decrease in coordination abilities usually over a seven to ten year time span. Over a period of time it will eventually have an effect on almost all of the functions of the brain such as how a person acts, judgment, memory, language and movement.

Because this disease takes an extended amount of time to fully develop it is divided into stages based on how severe the individuals’ cognitive abilities are affected. There are seven stages of Alzheimer’s disease categorized as follows:

Stage 1 – Normal
Stage 2 – Early Forgetfulness
Stage 3 – Early Confusion
Stage 4 – Late Confusion
Stage 5 – Early Dementia
Stage 6 – Middle Dementia
Stage 7 – Late Dementia

Stage 1 is used to describe a normal adult who shows none of the signs or symptoms of any kind or deterioration in mental capabilities. In general this stage can be any normal average person with a healthy mind.

In the second of the stages of Alzheimer’s disease there are only mild signs of the disease that most often present themselves as occasionally forgetting things such as where they put something or the name of someone they know well. Often this stage is contributed to simple old age.

In stages 3 and 4 some of the signs of alzheimer’s disease become more apparent and may be detectable to close family members or medical professionals. Most common issues may include an individual’s inability to remember names or places and the person may be easily lost or disoriented. Denial is a defense mechanism that begins to surface in this stage.

Stages 5-7 include the onset of different aspects of dementia with the effects being mild at first and steadily increasing over time. When a person reaches this stage they are still able to perform normal activities such as feeding themselves or going to the bathroom but may forget previously well remembered information such as major events in their lives. In most cases it is no longer safe for the individual to live alone once they reach the beginning of the dementia stages.

In the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease a person slowly deteriorates to the point that they no longer remember or recognize familiar people including family and become agitated easily as well as frequently disoriented. In these stages of AD family has generally made plans to prevent an individual from being alone as it is apparent that they have become a danger to themselves. It is common for people in this stage of the disease to become angry easily when they are unable to remember something or think they don’t know the people around them.

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