Everyone forgets where they left the keys once in a while, or temporarily misplaces a co-worker’s name. Little slips like that are often a sign of stress or overwork, not dementia.
Alzheimer’s disease, which results from changes in the brain that occur over a long period of years, causes a slow decline in thinking and reasoning skills, as well as memory loss. The Alzheimer’s Association lists 10 warning signs and symptoms for the disease. Intensity varies from person to person. See a doctor if you notice any of them in yourself or a loved one:
- Memory loss that disrupts daily life: It’s one of the most common symptoms, and mostly involves forgetting recently learned information. Other behaviors include forgetting important dates or events, repeatedly asking for the same information or increasing reliance on memory aides or loved ones for things they used to remember themselves.
- Challenges in making plans or solving problems: Alzheimer’s doesn’t just affect memory. It changes a person’s ability to reason. Some people with Alzheimer’s may lose their ability to plan out a task or work with numbers. They may have trouble following a familiar recipe or forget to pay the bills.
- Problems completing familiar tasks: These are the sorts of things people do every day without really needing to think about them, such as driving to the office or the rules for a favorite game.
- Losing track of time or dates: People with Alzheimer’s lose track of dates, seasons and the passage of time. They may have trouble understanding that something is happening next week, for example, not right now. They may not know where they are or how they got there.
- Inability to understand visual images and spatial relationships: Some people will develop difficulty reading, judging distance or determining color or contrast. This could lead to problems driving.
- New problems speaking or writing: People with Alzheimer’s may have trouble following or participating in a conversation. They may lose their way or keep repeating themselves. They may use the wrong words to describe things.
- Losing things and not being able to retrace the path to find them: Sometimes people with Alzheimer’s disease put things in the wrong place, such as putting clean laundry in the freezer instead of hanging it up in the closet. Then they might be unable to think back to where they started and look for the lost item along the way.
- Showing poor judgment or poor decision-making skills: They may pay less attention to grooming or bathing daily. They may start spending large sums of money with telemarketers or on infomercial items.
- Withdrawal from work, family and friends: Changes in their ability to complete different tasks or keep up with conversations or activities may cause people to withdraw from those activities and the people related to them.
- Mood or personality changes: People with Alzheimer’s can become confused, suspicious, depressed, fearful or anxious. They may become easily upset or “high-strung” at work, with friends or in places outside their comfort zone.
Early detection can help slow the progress of Alzheimer’s disease and give you and your loved ones more time to plan for the future.
