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. is the classic dementia in which memory Memory
The ability to process information that requires attention, storage, and retrieval. is impaired. As Alzheimer's disease progresses, a person's remote/long term memory becomes affected and is one of the first signs of the disease. Long term memory is composed of three main components: procedural memory Procedural memory
Memory of skills and abilities that cannot be described in words. , semantic memory Semantic memory
Semantic memory refers to memory of meanings, understandings and other concept-based knowledge. For example, knowing whether penquins can fly or not. and episodic memory Episodic memory
Memory of our personal experiences.. Procedural memory is a person's ability to remember how to do certain skills (e.g. riding a bicycle) that they are unable to describe in words. However, semantic and episodic memory may be expressed in words. Semantic memory is memory of general knowledge (e.g. there are 60 minutes in an hour) and episodic memory is memory of a past experience (e.g. one's wedding day, or what was served at supper the night before). Alzheimer's disease first chiefly affects this type of memory.

The person you care for may be slow in retrieving memories or unable to recall the memory at all. As well, they may require a verbal prompt or visual cue in order to help retrieve the memory. At first, this might be successful, but as Alzheimer's disease progresses, the ability to be cued to rememeber decreases.

Unlike Alzheimer's dementia, people with frontotemporal dementia Frontotemporal dementia
A type of dementia that mainly affects the frontal lobe causing a problem in executive function tasks. exhibit memory disturbances. Where they have trouble are with the semantic memory and with understanding what words and objects mean. They remain oriented to time and place and recall information about the present and past.

In todays busy world, keeping track of symptoms can be a challenge to say the least. That is why we have developed SymptomGuide^TM. By taking a more active role, you can better understand how a symptom is affecting everyday life and you can communicate this knowledge with others involved.

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