Irritability is common and has many causes. Everyday frustration at the loss of memory Memory
The ability to process information that requires attention, storage, and retrieval. and thinking ability is part of it. So too is the loss of ability to modify behaviour - to 'keep a lid on it', which comes about as part of the disease itself.

This symptom Symptom
In medicine a symptom is what the patient complains of. For example, a a patient may have symptoms of pain and fatigue. can be distressing for families, especially when it is out of character for the person. If you can, it often helps to step back from your immediate, emotional reaction - as a carer once said to me, "to see the person, not the disease". But remember that this is one of the hardest parts of the disease for caregivers.

Improvement in irritability can be seen with drug treatment Drug treatment
See drug therapy. However, sometimes the pattern of irritability, and the way in which it recovers are not well captured by the standard ways we test drugs, which is why we are targeting it here- to give people a voice in how the drugs work. This issue is described in more detail in Rockwood K et al., Potential treatment effects of donepezil not detected in Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease
A neurological disease that affects memory and behaviour. It is characterized by beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. There is no known cause but genetics and lifestyle are thought to play a role. clinical trials Clinical trials
Organized studies that test the value of various treatments, such as drugs or surgery, in human beings.: a physician survey. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2004 Oct.19(10):954-60.