The Eight Warning Signs of Alzheimer's Disease

Esther Pearl - North Central Region Program Director- Alzheimer’s Association CT Chapter presents "The Ten Warning Signs of Alzheimer's."  Esther is a skilled and engaging educator who brings her knowledge and personal experience to help families and caregivers to understand warning signs, detection, and how to move forward in getting a diagnosis and support.

Esther’s entry into the world of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s was, like many others, unexpected, devastating and life changing.  A year after marrying, her husband was diagnosed with Atypical Younger Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, he was only 56.  

Through a random encounter at a health fair, Esther and Mark became involved with the Alzheimer’s Association, CT Chapter.  Support groups, social programs and tearful calls to the Helpline became their lifelines. Because of their somewhat unusual situation in regard to age, work status and retirement planning, they faced additional hurdles in navigating the world of Alzheimer’s.  Esther was soon asked to speak at various events and share their story.  Professionally, she has spent her career educating others in the fields of higher education, employment, financial issues, credit union services and career services.  

In 2017, Esther joined the association as Program Director in order to honor Mark and their joint commitment to fighting Alzheimer’s.  She holds a Master’s of Science in Counseling from Central Connecticut State University and a BS in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.  

The Connecticut Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association serves the more than 80 thousand people living with Alzheimer's in our state, their caregivers and people concerned about brain health. We offer free education classes, support groups, care consultations and activities for those in the early stages of dementia. We have robust advocacy efforts on both the state and local level, and raise money through events like our Walk to End Alzheimer's in the Fall to help fund research to get closer to new treatments and a cure.
24/7 Helpline: 1.800.272.3900
Website: alz.org/ct
Register for Walk: act.alz.org/connecticut
General email: ctchapter@alz.org

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):

Welcome to Senior Living Connecticut, a show that explores solutions for Connecticut's adult striving for the best in senior living. I'm Bill Corbett, manager of Evergreen Crossing's independent senior living and author of the book, the 2.0 Entrepreneur. Every episode I sit down with industry area subject matter experts to find out what they've learned along the way to share it with Connecticut seniors and their families. With me today is the Connecticut chapter of Alzheimer's Association Director. You are the North Central Region Program Director, correct? Speaker 2 (00:47):

Yes. Speaker 1 (00:48):

Esther Pearl is with me today to talk about identifying the warning signs of Alzheimer's. The object is to help educate our listeners about this disease and to recognize it. But first we want to start out with a little bit about you. Speaker 3 (01:03):

Sure. Well, thanks for having me on the show today. I really appreciate the opportunity to speak with everyone. My involvement with Alzheimer's and the Alzheimer's Association came about in 2011 when my then 56-year-old husband Mark was diagnosed with younger onset Alzheimer's disease, which was something that I knew absolutely nothing about. Through a chance meeting with somebody who then worked for the association, I became involved with some advocacy efforts. We went to support groups and social engagement programs. And then about five and a half years ago, I was hired to be the program director for the north central part of the state, which means I get to organize and run programs, education opportunities, support groups. I work with a lot of organizations to try to get more opportunities to speak pretty much anywhere and everywhere we can. I oversee our volunteers in this part of the state, and it's just a great way to provide that education and support that we know people so desperately need. Speaker 1 (02:20):

You have a lot of passion in this kind of work. It shows. Speaker 3 (02:24):

I do. Speaker 1 (02:24):

That's awesome. So tell us what are some statistics on Alzheimer's so we can better understand it? Speaker 3 (02:32):

Sure. Right here in Connecticut, there are over 80,000 people who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and those are people over the age of 65. So that's not even counting the younger onset folks. And there are over 143,000 caregivers. So when you look at it, it really impacts just about everybody in the state, in the country. In 2021, it cost Medicaid over 1 billion to care for people with Alzheimer's here in Connecticut. So those statistics are pretty massive and it's an important issue for everybody to talk about and become familiar with. Speaker 1 (03:20):

It is because it's not just those afflicted with it or the caregivers, but the families. And I've been through it myself and I know what it's like and it's so difficult to deal with a family member who's suffering from it, and it affects family relationships and everything. Right, Speaker 3 (03:39):

Right. Absolutely. Speaker 1 (03:42):

Okay, so what are some warning signs that we can talk about? Speaker 3 (03:47):

Sure. Well, we've got the 10 warning signs, and let me actually back up just a minute and talk about Alzheimer's versus dementia. Speaker 1 (03:56):

Oh, good, good. Speaker 3 (03:57):

This is one of the things that we get asked most often is what's the difference? Are they the same or are they Speaker 1 (04:02):

Different? Speaker 3 (04:03):

So dementia is an umbrella term that's used to describe a person's loss of memory and other cognitive abilities severe enough to impact daily life. And this dementia, this umbrella term is not a normal part of aging. The most prevalent reason why people have dementia is due to Alzheimer's, which is a progressive brain disease, and it literally results in the loss of brain cells and function. So somewhere between 60 and 80% of the reasons why people have dementia is due to Alzheimer's. But then there are lots of other reasons why people would have the symptoms of dementia. So everything from vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, and on and on and on. So just to have that clear understanding dementia as an umbrella term, Alzheimer's is the most prevalent reason why people have dementia. Speaker 1 (05:09):

So there's other things that can contribute to dementia. Speaker 3 (05:12):

Absolutely. Speaker 1 (05:13):

That's good for clarity because a lot of people say, well, is it dementia? Is it Alzheimer's? And they begin interchanging and it's not Speaker 3 (05:20):

Correct. They're not the same thing. Speaker 1 (05:24):

Sure. Okay. So I think what I want to do on this show is to go through the warning signs so people can begin to decipher whether they or a family member has it. And then what we'll do is after our commercial break, we'll come back and we'll talk about what they can do about it. Right? Speaker 3 (05:44):

Absolutely. Do you want to start with a 10 warning Speaker 1 (05:49):

Sentence? Sure, go ahead. Speaker 3 (05:50):

Okay. So the first one is memory loss. That disrupts daily life. Speaker 1 (05:54):

Now that's good that you qualified it. It disrupts daily life because we have memory loss all the time. Whether I can't find my keys or my glasses are on my head and I'm searching for them, but when it disrupts daily life, then it's an issue. Speaker 3 (06:10):

So an example might be, as you mentioned, misplacing things. It can be something if a person, let's say, has always paid all their bills on time and now they're getting shut off notices or overdraft fees or late credit card payment fees, that's disruptive. So that would be concerning. Forgetting things once in a while would be typical aging. The second one, the second warning sign would be challenges in planning or solving problems. So this could be a typical age related change. Might be missing a bill every once in a while, maybe taking longer to do something that they've done in the past, whereas a dementia concern may be, as I said, getting late fees and overdraft fees and things like that. So Speaker 1 (07:06):

I can see challenges in planning or solving problems. Can that also be when they're trying to plan something out and they're getting frustrated because they can't do it and they get angry? Speaker 2 (07:20):

Absolutely. Speaker 1 (07:21):

It is happened to me. I'd go, mom, we have to do a budget for you so they don't shut the lights off for you. And she'd go, just leave me alone. Shut. Speaker 3 (07:31):

Yeah, it shut. It can become overwhelming. There's too much information to sort through and prioritizing can become very difficult, and that's overwhelming, and that can provoke anxiety and stress, which makes memory loss worse. So let's move on to number three, difficulty completing familiar tasks. So sometimes a typical age related change might be forgetting which buttons to push on a microwave. That happens to all of us in my house. It's about how to use the TV with five different remotes to get each component on, but something more impactful could be forgetting how to make a favorite recipe or forgetting the rules of poker when you've played poker every Friday night for 50 years. Speaker 2 (08:18):

Something Speaker 3 (08:19):

Very, very familiar. Number four is confusion with time or place. So sometimes if a person has recently retired, they may have trouble remembering what day of the week it is because they don't have that regular schedule of getting up and going to work every day. So that wouldn't be as much of a concern as somebody forgetting how they got to the supermarket and they forget how to get home. Or they look outside on a sunny day and think, well, it's sunny, but there's a breeze coming from the air conditioner, so it must be really cold outside and putting on a winter parka Speaker 1 (08:58):

In Speaker 3 (08:58):

The middle of the summer. Speaker 1 (08:59):

My grandfather came to a stop sign and he could only go left or right, and he's made this trip a bunch of times and he went straight. He just stepped on the gas, went straight, and then went down an embankment. Fortunately he survived. But is that sign Speaker 3 (09:14):

It could be. And with all these, we can't say if you show this symptom, you have Alzheimer's, Speaker 1 (09:20):

But Speaker 3 (09:21):

We'll talk about the diagnostic Speaker 1 (09:22):

Process Speaker 3 (09:23):

A little bit Speaker 1 (09:23):

Later. I'm just wondering if you, just for a moment, I am talking with Esther Pearl. She's the North Central Region Program Director for the Alzheimer's Association Connecticut chapter, and we're getting a better understanding of the warning signs of Alzheimer's. Alright, next one. Speaker 3 (09:40):

Okay, number five is trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships. And this actually has a lot to do with what you just mentioned with your grandfather driving and having difficulty. Sometimes there'll be a road sign and the image doesn't really make sense, whether it's a stop or a slow down or curve. The images are there, but they may not really be connecting what's happening in real life with what's on the sign. Speaker 1 (10:12):

Is this also where they mistake one person, like they'll call their kid because they could go back into their past, their grandchild instead? Speaker 3 (10:23):

It could Speaker 1 (10:23):

Be, or vice versa. Speaker 3 (10:24):

This is a little bit more specific than that. That is more not recognizing people when the short-term memory becomes impacted. But this one in particular more the visual images and spatial relationships. This is knowing where you are in space as compared to other objects. So it could be standing up and then sitting down in a chair, but not sitting down straight. So you miss the chair or in driving, drifting to one side of the road, not staying in your lane. Speaker 1 (11:00):

And Speaker 3 (11:00):

Obviously this is where things become physically very dangerous. Speaker 1 (11:05):

Got it. Speaker 3 (11:05):

Number six could be new problems with words in speaking or writing. It may be difficulty recognizing written words, understanding a subtle meaning of a word, coming up with the correct name for an item. We had one family where the wife said her husband kept asking for the yellow pointy thing and she didn't know what the yellow pointy thing was. And when I share this in a program, most people say, oh, it was a pencil, right? No. Well, she couldn't figure it out. Next time they went to the supermarket, they were in the produce aisle and he said, look, honey, there's the yellow pointy thing. It was a banana. Number seven is misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps. So we all misplace things every once in a while, whether it's our glasses, our cell phones, our keys, we do it all the time, which is why most of us learn to be consistent and put Speaker 1 (12:03):

Things. I have a box full of lost and found items here. Speaker 3 (12:06):

I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do. But for most of us, we can try to go back to where we were when we think we last had an item for people with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. Going back in place or time or memory doesn't trigger where things are. And so that's where people will often accuse someone else of stealing things when the reality is that they may have just Speaker 1 (12:33):

Misplaced it had numerous incidents of that, Speaker 3 (12:35):

Right. Number eight is decreased or poor judgment. So a typical age related change might be making a bad decision once in a while, perhaps forgetting to change the oil in the car. But where it becomes a problem is, especially with people who are trying to take advantage of someone or with financial decisions. So no matter what you try to explain to the person to show that they're not making a good decision, they may argue and continue on with what they're doing. What we always remind people is that part of the disease is this lack of judgment, and that includes the ability of the person impacted to see that they are impacted and how much they are impacted. Speaker 1 (13:23): 

So we've got two more and let's handle those after the break. Nine and 10 to give us the full 10 warning signs. We'll pick this up right after the commercial break. You're listening to a senior living Connecticut, and I'm talking with Esther Burl. She's the North Central Region Program Director of Alzheimer's Association, Connecticut Chapter, and you're listening to senior living in Connecticut on the Talk of Connecticut. We'll be right back.