Taking Its Toll: Alzheimer's Disease

His family knew something was wrong when Ignacio Sanchez began hiding fruit in his bedroom and shutting all the windows in his home.

Then they found out: He had Alzheimer's disease.

Though the deterioration of the disease is hard on a patient, the effect on a patient's family can also be difficult.

And the Sanchez family of Orange County, Calif., have been dealing with their father's disease for a decade.

"It's just hard seeing your father digress like that. You're not supposed to -- that's the hardest part," Ignacio's son Iggy Sanchez said. "I'm getting older and my siblings are getting older and if you get it, you get it, you have to deal with that."

Iggy's sister Martha Sanchez Cannady said she tries to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease by exercising her mind everyday with the game Sudoku.

"You do everything you can," she said, "just because I've seen what it's done to my father and my family."

In the series, "Recognizing Alzheimer's," Early Show medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton continued the The Early Show's look into the 10 signs of Alzheimer's disease by the Alzheimer's Association.

Ashton told Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen that misplacing things is a common sign of the disease.

"...It's normal for us to misplace our keys once in awhile," she said. "But chronically misplacing things, losing track of things, can become a real problem."

A common example, Ashton said, is when people get lost when they can't find their car coming out of the grocery store.

Other signs are when you can't find your way to retrace your steps to get your way out of a situation, or when your judgment might be poor.

"And we're not talking about once in awhile, a lapse in judgment," Ashton said. "We're talking about giving large sums of money to a telemarketer, for example."

Other signs might also be withdrawing from work or social activities and becoming socially isolated or having big personality changes.

"This can be manifest by confusion, anger, depression," Ashton said. "Abrupt changes from your baseline personalities is a big problem."

Chen asked Ashton if there are ways to limit the chances of developing the disease in our everyday lives.

Ashton said a healthy lifestyle is a great start.

"You want to watch what you eat. Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables. Exercise your body, it helps your brain," she said. "The other thing is you really want to find ways to engage yourself in new activities. Learn a new instrument."

Ashton suggested that the socially isolated get a pet, so they're not so withdrawn.

She added mentally stimulating activities like Soduku, crossword puzzles and other games can keep the brain fit -- and it should be for the entire family.

"People who do three hours of mentally stimulating activity a day have a much more reduced risk of Alzheimer's," Ashton said. "...As we all age we're all going to be either knowing someone with this or hopefully, you know, these kind of things can really make a big impact."