Before the onset of Alzheimer's or dementia comes a stage of memory loss that is known as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). MCI is best described as a mild memory condition that can be a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease.
By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room
When I first became concerned about my mother she was 86 years old. For more than ten years after the death of my father she was living by herself in southeast Florida. She did everything for herself without problem. She was just sailing through life like a little dynamo.
Then, out of no where, a series of suspicious behaviors started to occur one after the other.
The first that stands out in my mind is when she started to shuffle or scrape her feet on the ground as she walked. This was a very distinctive sound, and in a way, it was disconcerting to me. When I mentioned this to my friends and family they all said the same thing, "she's getting old".
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It is hard for me to describe the sound that my mother's feet were making while walking. Try walking with out picking up your feet. More or less, dragging them along the sidewalk or floor. On a tile floor with shoes it sounds more like a "swoosh, swoosh, swoosh".
I would hear this sound when my mother woke up in the morning. While we were walking on the sidewalk. When you hear it, you won't miss it as long as you use your ears.
If you here this sound, please consider discussing this with your doctor. If I had known about this and had not passed it off as old age, I believe my mother would have been diagnosed earlier. A key factor in the effective treatment of Alzheimer's.
Maybe someone on this list is more familiar with the sound and can describe it in the comments box.
This is an early sign of mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer's.
Bob DeMarco is the Founder of the Alzheimer's Reading Room and an Alzheimer's caregiver. The ARR knowledge base contains more than 4,900 articles with more than 368,100 links on the Internet. Bob lives in Delray Beach, FL.
Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room