As you get older or as those closest to you get older, the risk of dementia increases. Understanding dementia and how to spot the early warning signs is important to ensuring you can get the condition diagnosed as soon and as early as possible. Here are five early warning signs that you or someone you love might be showing signs of dementia.
Memory Loss
There’s a line that you need to be careful of when it comes to memory loss because it’s only normal for us to forget things, particularly as we age. Things like names of people we’ve only just met or appointments are things that are normal to forget, but for people living with or showing signs of dementia, however, memory loss is more noticeable. It might be forgetting their children’s names or forgetting things they’ve only just learned. A good quick test for memory loss that may be associated with dementia is to check if they are forgetting things often or not able to retain new information.
Language Problems
Stumbling over speech and pausing often to recall the right word or the name of someone or something is a good early warning sign. Of particular note is when someone speaking simply adds random words instead of the right one into their speech so that it becomes difficult to understand what they’re saying. Picking up on these signs and finding a Dementia Resource & Support Center as soon as possible is vital.
Disorientation
We’re not talking about walking into a room and not being sure why you did. We’re talking about real disorientation. Someone who might be showing signs of dementia might become disorientated to where they are or what time of day it is. If it’s a place that they should know and they seem unfamiliar with it, you should pay attention to this. Warning signs of disorientation are strong if they arrive at a destination and seem confused about how they got there or what time of the day it is.
Losing Things
Here again, it’s not about putting down your keys or your wallet and forgetting whether you left it on the dining table or upstairs on a dresser. A person with dementia will lose things because they put them in bizarre places. For example, if you open a fridge and see the television remote or find car keys in the sugar bowl, you might be seeing signs of dementia, and shouldn’t ignore them.
Swings In Moods
People showing signs of dementia also often show signs of bad moods and acting out of character, as well as experiencing quite severe mood swings. A happy-go-lucky person who becomes bitter and angry or someone social and extroverted suddenly becoming withdrawn might be indicators of dementia. Also look out for a lack of interest, motivation, and initiative as these can also be worrying savefromnet signs.
There are other signs and indicators of dementia, but these are some of the easier ones to acknowledge and spot, so keep an eye out for them so you can get the help you or your loved ones need as early as possible.
