When you think about Alzheimer’s disease, you may only think about memory loss. However, it is much more than that. There are physical symptoms of this disease that all family caregivers of an elderly loved one should know about, too. The more you learn about these symptoms, the more you and your home care provider can help your elderly loved one to feel comfortable throughout their life and as the disease gets worse.
Changes to Behavior
The behavior that your elderly loved one displays will change if they have Alzheimer’s disease. They will experience things such as:
Difficulties holding a conversation
Having trouble communicating with certain types of people
Acting out more often
Being aggressive
These are only some of the behavior changes that you or a home care provider might notice in your elderly loved one if they have Alzheimer’s disease.
Early Stage Physical Symptoms
If your elderly loved one has Alzheimer’s disease, they may experience physical symptoms such as:
Biting or picking at their nails
Putting their hands together and squeezing them tight
Not having control over their bladder or bowels
Not being able to perform tasks such as brushing their hair
Needing help taking a bath since they don’t have a good grip on soap or other things anymore
These are just some of the early-stage physical symptoms that your elderly loved one could experience. Even if they don’t experience these in the earlier stage, they will happen by the mid to late stages of the disease.
More Advanced Physical Symptoms
Your elderly loved one is going to experience some more advanced physical symptoms as a result of Alzheimer’s disease, too. Some of these symptoms that you or home care providers may need to help with include:
Vision problems
Not being able to stand or walk on their own
Not having any control over their personal hygiene
No bladder or bowel control
Higher risk of getting sick since they don’t know to put on a coat or wash their hands
Not having good balance
Not being able to move well out of bed or from a chair
Not being able to eat on their own
As noted, these are just some of the physical symptoms that will happen with Alzheimer’s disease in the later stages. Once your elderly loved one gets to these stages, they are likely going to need around-the-clock help from you and/or home care providers. It is crucial that a home care plan is put into place to determine who will care for them, what those people will do, and when each person will be there to help out.
Does your elderly loved one have Alzheimer’s disease? If so, as a family caregiver, it is important to learn about the symptoms they will develop over time. Some of the symptoms will happen earlier in the disease while others will get worse or show up in the later stages of the disease.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering Home Care in Reston, VA, or the surrounding area please contact the caring staff at Decena Home Care, LLC today. 571-508-7144
Sources
https://www.cdc.gov/aging/aginginfo/alzheimers.htm
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