Like any disease, Alzheimer's disease affects each individual differently. Some people progress quickly through the stages (a few years) while others may live twenty years or more post diagnosis.
There will be common symptoms for someone with Alzheimer's disease. They will lose memory, communication skills, and eventually loss of motor skills and internal organ function.
Experts say that all types of agitating behaviors are forms of communication. Your loved one is trying to tell you something even though the disease has robbed them of other ways (i.e., talking) of telling you. Perhaps your loved one is frightened or fatigued and does not know how to express it in words. Some experts believe that agitation behavior is "the inability the deal with stress."
If someone you love has early stage dementia (see Stages), they may be able to live alone, live alone with help, live with a family member, or move to Assisted Living.
Like any disease, Alzheimer's disease affects each individual differently. Some people progress quickly through the stages (a few years) while others may live twenty years or more post diagnosis. 
