How do people actually die from Alzheimer’s Disease?
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Most deaths are from Alzheimers patients not being able to take care of themselves and having accidents or untreated illnesses. A good nursing home can help this but without being able to get any help from the patient it becomes an impossible task to take care of them. A small infection for example which could be deadly for a senior citizen without medical attention might go unnoticed for days if the patient is not able to complain about pains. Even leaving a seriously ill Alzheimer patient unattended for a few minutes at night could cause you to miss them jumping on their bed falling over and braking bones, which for seniors could be fatal as their body does not heal the same way as adults.
But even with the best of care Alzheimers is still deadly on its own. The disease is destroying the nerve cells so the patients start losing neural function one by one. It does start with memory and coordination but eventually it spreads to more vital functions. When patients start losing control over their throat muscles controlling speech, swallowing and breathing they need constant attention and even then typically get associated complications such as acid reflux into their lungs and pneumonia. But even if they survive this the disease can spread to the nerves controlling their breathing causing them to just stop breathing.
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