The early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are often subtle and hidden, and are easily overlooked. These symptoms are also called mild cognitive impairment. The mild cognitive impairment stage is a critical period for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. If these early signals can be captured early, valuable intervention time can be gained for patients.
The initial symptoms usually include a decline in delayed memory function, while the ability to recall words immediately does not decline significantly, manifested as forgetting the names of recent events or people and repeating questions, but the instantaneous memory function is relatively intact. This forgetfulness may be mistaken for normal aging, especially in busy or stressful situations. Other early signs include difficulty concentrating, especially when talking, easy distraction, decreased ability to handle complex tasks, and loss of sense of direction, such as easy to get lost in familiar environments. Difficulties in language expression should also be vigilant. Patients may suddenly forget simple words during conversations, or use inappropriate words that are difficult to understand. This subtle change in language ability may be a sign of brain nerve damage.
Small troubles in daily life should not be ignored, such as familiar tasks becoming difficult to complete, forgetting to add salt or repeatedly adding salt when cooking, etc. These seemingly ordinary mistakes are actually manifestations of cognitive decline. In addition, patients with early Alzheimer's disease may experience mood changes and personality changes, such as becoming prone to anxiety, depression, irritability or personality changes.
It is very important to identify these mild but persistent changes early. If these signs are found, it is recommended to consult a professional doctor for evaluation as soon as possible so that timely measures can be taken.
What is Alzheimer's disease?
Alzheimer's disease is a disease of degenerative changes (gradual atrophy) in the brain. It is the main cause of cognitive impairment (dementia) in the elderly, commonly known as senile dementia.
Its true cause and pathological mechanism have not yet been clarified. There are two classic pathologies and hypotheses:
One is the β-amyloid "like" protein deposition hypothesis, and the other is the abnormal phosphorylated Tau protein hypothesis. Most of these pathological changes occur more than 10 years before dementia.
Is there a way to determine whether a patient has this disease before dementia? The answer is: Yes!
At present, cerebrospinal fluid and PET-CT and other detection methods can be achieved. Some simple and easy neuropsychological and behavioral assessments, as well as blood test indicators, can also indicate whether the patient has Alzheimer's disease before dementia.
The early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are mainly:
① Forgetfulness, mainly including memory impairment of time, place, and people;
② Gradually appear language disorders, such as always repeating in the expression process, or difficulty finding words (inappropriate words), and there may also be difficulties in understanding text;
③ Disorientation, such as getting lost, forgetting where to live, etc.
How to treat it?
The current drug treatment is mainly symptomatic, and it takes a long time to take effect and the effect is not ideal.
- Symptomatic treatment
Including drugs that delay the progression of dementia and drugs targeting mental and behavioral symptoms. It is recommended that a specialist conduct relevant evaluations to decide whether to add drug treatment, and do not use drugs on your own.
- Rehabilitation treatment
Usually, patients with Alzheimer's disease can be given targeted daily ability training to improve their daily living abilities, such as memory training, intelligence training, sense of direction training, etc.
