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What Is Moderate Alzheimer's?
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Click on an icon to view.Moderate Alzheimer's Disease
Common symptoms in this stage of Alzheimer's disease can include:
- Changes in behavior, concern for appearance, hygiene, and sleep (which become more noticeable).
- Inability to identify close relatives (such as thinking a son is a brother or that a wife is a stranger).
- Poor judgment (This creates safety issues when the person is left alone -- he or she may wander and risk exposure, poisoning, falls, self-neglect, or exploitation.).
- Difficulty recognizing familiar people and objects. The person may take things belonging to others.
- Repetition of stories, favorite words, statements, or motions (such as tearing tissues).
- Engaging in restless, repetitive movements in late afternoon or evening (such as pacing, trying doorknobs, or fingering draperies).
- Inability to organize thoughts or follow logical explanations.
- Difficulty completing tasks.
- Telling stories to fill in gaps in memory.
- Inability to formulate the correct response to a written request.
- Inappropriate behavior (such as kicking, hitting, biting, screaming, cursing, or grabbing).
- Becoming sloppy or forgetting manners.
- Sensing things that are not there.
- Making accusations (such as accusing a spouse of an affair or family members of stealing).
- Frequent napping (or waking up at night and believing it is morning).
- Difficulty positioning the body to use the toilet or sit in a chair.
- Thinking that a mirror image is following him or television story is happening to her.
- Requiring assistance to find the toilet, use the shower, remember to drink, and dress for the weather or occasion.
- Inappropriate sexual behavior, such as mistaking another individual for a spouse. A person with Alzheimer's disease may forget what is considered private behavior and may disrobe or masturbate in public.
Written by/reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD