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Alzheimer’s disease is a specific form of dementia. Dementia as a broad category is the progressive development of cognitive decline, which affects daily functioning. With normal aging, we all experience some subjective memory loss. However, with Alzheimer’s disease, this memory loss affects daily functioning. It is more than what we expect with normal aging. Again, Alzheimer’s disease is a specific form of dementia and is the most common. In people with Alzheimer’s disease, we see collections of toxic proteins in plaques and tangles in the brain. There’s also degeneration of neurons and unfortunately death of cells in the supporting cells of the brain. The typical early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease involve short-term memory loss and particularly memory for recent episodes. A person may still have good immediate recall, be able to write down a phone number for example, but remembering what they had for breakfast or what a conversation was earlier will be affected. Again, we can all experience these types of things as we get older. However, in people with Alzheimer’s disease, it is much more than expected for age and can cause some dysfunction in daily life.
