Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease

 
1. Activity / rest
Symptoms: feeling tired
Signs: day / night anxiety, helplessness, sleep pattern disturbance
Lethargy: decreased interest or concern to the usual activities, hobbies, inability to mention again what is read / follow event television programs.
Impaired motor skills, inability to perform usual things have been done, which is very useful movement.

2. Circulation
Symptoms: History of cerebral vascular disease / systemic hypertension, embolic episodes (a predisposing factor).

3. Ego integrity
Symptoms: Suspicious or afraid of the situation / person fantasies, misperceptions of the environment, fault identification of objects and people, hoarding objects: believing that the wrong object placement, has been stolen. Loss of multiple, changes in body image and self-esteem perceived.
Signs: Hiding disability (many reasons are unable to perform an obligation, it may also open the hand without reading the book yet), sit back and watch the others, the first activity may accumulate fixtures and emotionally stable, repetitive movements (folding, unfolding, refolding , cloth), hid the goods, or take a walk.

4. Elimination
Symptoms: The urge to urinate
Signs: Incontinence of urine / feaces, tends to constipation.

5. Food / fluid
Symptoms: History of episodes of hypoglycemia (a predisposing factor) changes in taste, appetite, weight loss, denying the hunger / need to eat.
Symptoms: Loss of ability to chew, avoiding / refusing to eat (probably trying to hide skill), and it looks even thinner (advanced stage).

6. Hiygene
Symptoms: Need help / dependent people
Signs: not able to maintain the appearance, personal habits is lacking, poor cleaning habits, forgot to go to the bathroom, forgetting the steps to pee, can not find the bathroom and less interested in or have forgotten at meal time: depending on others to cook and prepare food on the table, eating, using cutlery.

7. Neuro-sensory
Symptoms: The denial of existing symptoms, especially cognitive changes, and or a vague, hypochondriac complaints about fatigue, dizziness or headache sometimes. complaints in cognitive abilities, decision-making, given the past, a decrease in behavior (observed by people nearby). Loss of sensation propriosepsi (position of the body or particular parts of the body in space). and a history of cerebral vascular disease / systemic embolism or hypoxia held periodically (as a predisposing factor), and seizure activity (secondary to brain damage).
Symptoms: Damage communication: aphasia and dysphasia; difficulty in finding the right words (especially nouns); asked repeatedly or conversations with the substance of the word that has no meaning; fragmented, or speech not audible. Losing the ability to read and write stages (loss of fine motor skills).

8. Comfort
Symptoms: A history of serious head trauma (may be a predisposing factor or acceleration factor), traumatic accidents (falls, burns, and so on).
Sign: ecchymoses, lacerations and hostile / attack others

9. Social interactions
Symptoms: Feeling lost power. psychosocial factors previously; personal and individual influences that appear to change patterns of behavior emerge.
Signs: Loss of social control, improper behavior.

Risk for Injury - Alzheimer's Disease Nursing Care Plan

Alzheimer's disease is a brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. People may have trouble remembering things that happened recently or names of people they know. Memory problems are one of the first signs of Alzheimer's. Over time, symptoms will most often get worse, and problems can include getting lost, repeating questions, and taking longer than normal to finish daily tasks. As the disease progresses, people may have trouble learning new things, recognizing family and friends, and communicating. Eventually, they need total care.

Alzheimer's disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer, a German doctor. In 1906, Dr. Alzheimer noticed changes in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of an unusual mental illness. He found many abnormal clumps (now called amyloid plaques) and tangled bundles of fibers (now called neurofibrillary tangles). Today, these plaques and tangles in the brain are considered the main signs of Alzheimer's disease.

People with Alzheimer's disease are at a serious disadvantage. Their impairments in memory and reasoning severely limit their ability to act appropriately in crises.
Specific home safety precautions may apply and environmental changes may be needed.

Prevention begins with a safety check of every room in your home. Use the following room-by-room checklist to alert you to potential hazards and to record any changes you need to make. You can buy products or gadgets necessary for home safety at stores carrying hardware, electronics, medical supplies, and children's items.

Nursing Care Plan for Alzheimer's Disease - Risk for Injury

Nursing Diagnosis : Risk for Injury
related to:

•     Unable to recognize / identify hazards in the environment.
•     Disorientation, confusion, impaired decision making.
•     Weakness, the muscles are not coordinated, the presence of seizure activity.

Nursing Interventions and Rational :

Nursing Intervention

1. Assess the degree of impaired ability of competence emergence of impulsive behavior and a decrease in visual perception.
2. Help the people closest to identify the risk of hazards that may arise.
3. Eliminate / minimize sources of hazards in the environment
4. Divert attention to a client when agitated or dangerous behaviors like getting out of bed by climbing the fence bed.

Rational:

1. Impairment of visual perception increase the risk of falling. Identify potential risks in the environment and heighten awareness so that caregivers more aware of the danger.
2. An impaired cognitive and perceptual disorders are beginning to experience the trauma as a result of the inability to take responsibility for basic security capabilities, or evaluating a particular situation.
3. Maintain security by avoiding a confrontation that could improve the behavior / increase the risk for injury.