Early symptoms: 10 warning signs
1. Memory Loss
Declining memory, especially short-term memory, is the most common early symptom of dementia. People with ordinary forgetfulness can still remember other facts associated with the thing they have forgotten. For example, they may briefly forget their next-door neighbour’s name but they still know the person they are talking to is their next-door neighbour. A person with dementia will not only forget their neighbour’s name but also the context.
2. Difficulty performing familiar tasks
Persons with dementia often find it hard to complete everyday tasks that are so familiar we usually do not think about how to do them. A person with dementia may not know in what order to put clothes on or the steps for preparing a meal.
3. Problems with language
Occasionally everyone has trouble finding the right word but a person with dementia often forgets simple words or substitutes unusual words, making speech or writing hard to understand.
4. Disorientation to time and place
We sometimes forget the day of the week or where we are going but a person with dementia can become lost in familiar places such as the road they live in, forget where they are or how they got there, and not know how to get back home. A person with dementia may also confuse night and day.
5. Poor or decreased judgement
A person with dementia may dress inappropriately, wearing several layers of clothes on a warm day or very few on a cold day.
6. Problems keeping track of things
A person with dementia may find it difficult to follow a conversation or keep up with paying their bills.
7. Misplacing things
Anyone can temporarily misplace his or her wallet or keys. A person with dementia may put things in unusual places such as an iron in the fridge or a wristwatch in the sugar bowl.
8. Changes in mood and behaviour
Everyone can become sad or moody from time to time. A person with dementia may become unusually emotional and experience rapid mood swings for no apparent reason. Alternatively a person with dementia may show less emotion than was usual previously.
9. Trouble with images and spatial relationships
These vision problems are different from typical age-related problems such as cataracts. Persons with dementia tend to have difficulty in reading, judging distances, and determining colour or contrast. In terms of perception, they may look in a mirror and think someone else is in the room instead of realising they are looking at a reflection. Dementia can also cause changes in visual and spatial abilities, e.g. they can find it hard to distinguish food from the plate.
10. Withdrawal from work or social activities
At times everyone can become tired of housework, business activities, or social obligations. However a person with dementia may become very passive, sitting in front of the television for hours, sleeping more than usual, or appear to lose interest in hobbies.