With Alzheimer’s, the changes are small and gradual.

It’s easy to explain-away our loved one’s forgetfulness.

Not me. I notice EVERYTHING.

I’ll tell you about one day in early November, 2019, just a few days after I had moved in.

I had left my mother with simple instructions with regard to her saliva test:

1. Stop eating or drinking at 12 noon
2. No eating or drinking for 30 min
3. Fill up the tube with saliva at 1pm

And that was it. I’d return home soon after this was to take place, and would coordinate the balance of the test instructions with her.

And when I returned home, I simply asked, “When did you stop eating?”

She said, “Hmmmmmmmm, I’m not sure,” and proceeded to examine the insides of the fridge, hoping it would give her clues about WHAT she had eaten. She continued to hem and haw and to try to put together pieces of the puzzle of WHAT she had eaten to provide context to WHEN she had eaten. It was no use. She was flustered and I was, as per usual, feeling defeated.

We decided to do the saliva test the next day, as she clearly required supervision. 3 ½ years later, knowing what I know now about Alzheimer’s, these simple instructions can be impossible for someone with early Alzheimer’s. 

You see, the front of our brains (frontal lobe) handles the executive functions, and there are many of these functions, including: 

1. Planning and organizing
2. Reasoning
3. Problem-solving

Someone with Alzheimer’s may be challenged with their executive functioning, and their new way of being can seem so counterintuitive to the way they have always handled what we would think of as simple navigation through life.

From there on out – until we had reversed her Alzheimer’s, of course – I knew that the following were tell-tale signs that my mother indeed had a serious illness.

1. She was unable to follow simple instructions.
2. She got confused about things as simple and routine as what she ate for lunch.
3. She would need to jot down ample and lengthy notes about anything and everything. Without them, she would remember nothing!

I tell you this story in hopes that you will conduct your own reality checks with your loved ones. 

So in summary:

• Look for a consistent pattern of inconsistencies between past and present behavior. 
• Do not explain-away these inconsistencies as simply symptoms of old age.
• Provide your loved one with a simple test such as the one I’ve demonstrated and see how they do. It can be very difficult if not impossible for someone with Alzheimer’s to execute even a simple task due to impairments in executive functioning.