Stages of Alzheimer's

"I never dreamed that I was to spend the next seventeen years of my life as a caregiver," Gail Sheehy.

Reading Gail Sheehy's new book, Passages in Caregiving. it is interesting to me that when she lists medical conditions and resources, she does not include Dementia with Lewy Bodies. Second in number of incidence to Alzheimer's Disease, and yet so little known among the general public. Still her book has some good information. She lists the stages of Alzheimer's, which are probably similar to Dementia with Lewy Bodies:
1. Normality
2. Subjective cognitive impairment (beginning of forgetting and misplacing which she says begins about fifteen years before cognitive impairment)
3. Mile cognitive impairment: seven years before obvious dementia, people have trouble with complex tasks and tend to withdraw
4. Mild dementia: difficulties with complex activities lasting about 2 years
5. Moderate dementia: people lack ability to pick out right clothes for the season, may become angry and suspicious
6. Moderately severe dementia: First clue: People began having trouble putting on their clothes properly, showering, urinary incontinence, speech difficulties
7. Final stage: Have lost ability for self care in reverse developmental order, lose ability to walk, can last seven years or more

There are some similarities between Alzheimer's and Dementia with Lewy Bodies, and this list may be somewhat helpful to caregivers in observing the progress of this terminal illness.