Well, an autopsy would tell you, but I don't think that is what you are looking for!
Mostly you look at all his current symptoms and compare that to a list of stages. The symptoms sort of, roughly, approximately correspond to where the tangles and plaques are in the brain. For example, have they progresses to the area of the brain that control speech?
Be area that stages were identified for the kind of dementia that has tangles and plaques that slowly take over parts of the brain in a predictable order. In other word, they apply to Alzheimer's but not to the 50 or so other kinds of dementia.
And if you can say with a fair amount of confidence, "My husband is starting stage 4" what is the benefit? Well, you can discuss it with others who understand the stages. You can look ahead and kind of predict what comes next. Those may be good benefits.
But you won't know how long he will remain in the current stage, how severe or mild it may get, or when the next stage will start, etc.
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Here is one list of the stages: https://www.agingcare.com/articles/Stages-of-Alzheimers-disease-118964.htm
Remember that this applies to ALZ ONLY.
Mostly you look at all his current symptoms and compare that to a list of stages. The symptoms sort of, roughly, approximately correspond to where the tangles and plaques are in the brain. For example, have they progresses to the area of the brain that control speech?
Be area that stages were identified for the kind of dementia that has tangles and plaques that slowly take over parts of the brain in a predictable order. In other word, they apply to Alzheimer's but not to the 50 or so other kinds of dementia.
And if you can say with a fair amount of confidence, "My husband is starting stage 4" what is the benefit? Well, you can discuss it with others who understand the stages. You can look ahead and kind of predict what comes next. Those may be good benefits.
But you won't know how long he will remain in the current stage, how severe or mild it may get, or when the next stage will start, etc.
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