To be very accurate, there is very little connection between anterograde amnesia and Alzheimer's disease. In order to understand why, it is essential to understand how both of these diseases work. Anterograde amnesia is the kind of memory loss wherein the patient does not remember what happened after a traumatic event. On the contrary, retrograde amnesia is a loss of memory of the events that occurred before a traumatic event. Complete or global amnesia is when everything about, before and after a traumatic event is completely wiped out from the memory slate. Amnesia is triggered by a cause. As mentioned in the definitions of all the various types of amnesia, there has to be some sort of a traumatic event, or a great shock that was delivered to the affected person who developed amnesia. Sometimes, it can also be caused by a physical blow, or an accident of some sort. Other times, it may also be triggered by some sort of medication you are taking for something else altogether. Alzheimer's disease, on the other hand, is a kind of dementia. In this disease, there is rapid degeneration of the mind and this is normally a terminal ailment.
While amnesia will not result in a loss of all functioning faculties of a person, Alzheimer's starts with memory gaps, and progresses to complete loss of memory, identity and the slow but gradual decline of all senses, and then organs. Alzheimer's disease does not have a trigger or a cause of any kind, like amnesia does. Instead, it is considered to be associated with some physiological breakdown of parts of the brain. While Alzheimer's is a progressive disease, amnesia usually stops where it started. It does not really progress with time. The forgetfulness that is caused due to age should not be confused with amnesia, since there is no connection between the two. While there is a lot of research in progress, there is no cure in sight for Alzheimer's disease yet. This is primarily because the cause of the disease is not known yet either. Amnesia, on the other hands, can be reversed. If a patient is suffering from amnesia due to medication, it will pass as soon as the medication is stopped. If the patient is suffering from Amnesia due to a blow, or a shock of some kind, then time will take care of it. Basically, any kind of amnesia is curable, while the same cannot be said for Alzheimer's disease.
answered by G M