What is Alzheimers disease and how is it different from the normal aging process?
Alzheimer’s is a degenerative disease of the brain characterized by gradual loss of short-term memory and increasing difficulty performing simple, routine tasks. The disease progresses at different speeds for every individual, but eventually most patients experience confusion and personality and behavior changes. Communicating with others becomes difficult, language problems become more evident, and the ability to stay focused and follow directions becomes more challenging as well. Ultimately, people with AD require more and more assistance with activities of daily living and become increasingly disoriented. Symptoms of the natural aging process, such as difficulties with short-term memory, do not progress into more serious symptoms, as they do with AD.
