Joseph R. Anticaglia, MD
Medical Advisory Board
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the neurons, the nerve cells in the brain. It’s a chronic, progressive disease that causes the loss of function, and structure of the nerve cells in the brain, resulting in the shrinkage of brain tissue with adverse emotional, mental, and physical effects. After the age of 60 years, the incidence of AD approximately doubles every five years. Among the consequences of AD are the 4 A’s:
• Amnesia refers to loss of memory, and is a key symptom of AD. It is the most common symptom of this disease and can be divided into short, and long term memory loss.
Short term memory loss involves the inability to recall information that has been recently experienced. It can be characterized, for instance, by forgetting recent news events, recent conversations with friends, or where something was placed.
Long term memory loss happens when someone starts forgetting, or being unable to recall things that they knew previously, or should know. Some common symptoms of long term memory include forgetting important dates, the names of people, or common objects. Also, not remembering rules such as when to correctly cross a city street, how to use the remote of the TV, and filling in memory gaps with false information.
• Aphasia describes the inability of a person to speak clearly, or understand speech. It may be categorized as expressive aphasia, where someone is unable to find the right words, or may say them incorrectly. Receptive aphasia is the inability to understand, receive and interpret language. This language disorder, in addition, may affect a person’s ability to read, or write. It’s typically a late-stage symptom of AD.
• Apraxia indicates the loss of a person’s motor skills which results in the inability to perform physical tasks.. A person with apraxia may encounter difficulty writing by hand, tying shoelaces, cutting a loaf of bread, or using scissors. As AD progresses, people might lose the ability to dress, or bathe themselves.
• Agnosia is a late stage symptom of Alzheimer’s. There’s an impairment of the 5 senses — hearing, vision, touch, taste, and smell. People have difficult recognizing objects, faces, identifying sounds, smells, or tastes. A person may hear a sound, see an object, or a person but is unable to identify them. For instance, a woman was speaking to her husband who was in a nursing home:
“Don’t you recognize me? I’m your wife. We’ve been married for 54 years.”
Alzheimer’s can cause loss of memory, difficulty speaking, inability to perform motor tasks, and trouble recognizing faces, and objects. However, the 4 A’s can be cause by any condition that significantly damages brain tissue, such as stroke, brain tumors, or traumatic brain injury(TBI). A thorough medical examination is crucial to determine the underlying cause of the 4 A’s cognitive, and motor decline and receive appropriate, timely treatment.
This article is intended solely as a learning experience. Please consult your physician for diagnostic and treatment options.
