A tidy accountant will have trouble with addition and subtraction, a surgeon won’t hold a scalpel, an academic lecturer will forget what he was supposed to give a lecture about. Today they live normal lives, not realizing that a serious disease is developing in their bodies.

The course of this disease is very dramatic. The first symptom is episodic memory disorder. Patients during this period function fairly normally, work, are present in social spaces, but slowly begin to avoid people. Unfortunately, very often these symptoms are underestimated, and neuropsychological tests usually do not reveal abnormalities. In the next stage, the patient is increasingly confused. Mild cognitive impairment appears. The patient loses objects, does not recognize people, loses initiative, daytime rhythm disturbances join in, and is sometimes suspicious. Symptoms increase and there is a barracking of the ability to function independently.

In the last stage of the disease, the patient is no longer aware of his behavior. He may be aggressive (verbal and physical aggression). There are also hallucinations, hallucinations, unfounded accusations of those closest to him. All this is very difficult for caregivers to control and bear. Balance disorders and uncontrollable falls are very common. The patient becomes dependent, lying down.

What’s more, there are complications. It is important to know that Alzheimer’s disease is not fatal. It is the complications that are the cause of death in these patients. A lying patient does not move his limbs, but these are not paresias as in strokes, but a lack of brain stimulation. The patient forgets that he can move his legs.

Studies show that more and more people as young as 65 years old are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. In Poland, half a million patients have dementia syndrome – of which 60 percent are Alzheimer’s patients.