It’s quite normal – though perhaps a bit jarring – to see your grandma or grandpa begin to have memory problems. They might forget your phone number, or have to think twice while recalling a childhood memory. But when should you worry? When do the memory troubles signify something more disturbing, like Alzheimer’s disease?
It’s important to understand and educate yourself about so many things in life, but particularly something as devastating as watching a loved one succumb to Alzheimer’s. Knowing what to expect at each stage of the disease can go a long way toward making it easier for you and other family members to contend with.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are seven stages of Alzheimer’s, but not every person with Alzheimer’s will exhibit all the signs and some of the signs might be missed by friends and family who chalk them up to simple aging, senile dementia, or “grandpa being grandpa”.
Here are the seven stages and what to look for in each stage.
The first stage is really not a stage at all. This is when grandma or grandpa has no signs of memory loss or any...