|
Symptoms of Dementia
A Dementia Overview
Understanding the Symptoms of Dementia is an Important Part of our Dementia Overview
If you have not taken time to read Causes of Dementia, this will give you a better understanding of why these signs of dementia can be varied from person to person.
Other factors that should be taken into consideration are an individual’s personality, their over all physical and mental health, their environment and social situation. Dementia is the decline in the brains ability to understand and process incoming or outgoing information. In the dementia overview, you will learn that dementia affects personality, language skills, and the ability to have abstract thoughts. Dementia will cause mood changes, affect ones ability to perform everyday familiar tasks, as well as the inability to remember.
Other factors that should be taken into consideration are an individual’s personality, their over all physical and mental health, their environment and social situation. Dementia is the decline in the brains ability to understand and process incoming or outgoing information. In the dementia overview, you will learn that dementia affects personality, language skills, and the ability to have abstract thoughts. Dementia will cause mood changes, affect ones ability to perform everyday familiar tasks, as well as the inability to remember.
Early symptoms of dementia are:
Memory loss
The causes of memory loss are due to the destruction of brain cells. We all have moments of forgetfulness. We lead busy and stressful lives. A momentary lapse, such as misplacing something is normal. In the early stages of dementia, an individual will experience periods of lapses in memory in a different way. You may forget where you placed the remote control to the TV. A person with dementia will find the remote and not be able to remember what function it has. (Meaning they do not remember that the remote will turn the TV on and off).
Language Difficulty
Signs of dementia will present with an individual having difficulty with speech. We all have word finding problems at times. A person with dementia will unknowingly substitute a word or a new topic mid sentence. It becomes increasingly difficult to communicate and follow the train of thought of a person with dementia.
Become Disoriented and Confused
In the early stages of dementia, a person may find they feel frightened and confused. They may be walking or driving somewhere they are very familiar with, but, they suddenly do not know where they are or how they got there. They lose a sense of time and confuse day and night.
Judgment is Affected
You will find, in the early stages of dementia that an individual will do something out of character or express something that does not seem logical. They may have difficulty making a decision or frequently change their decisions on subjects that were not difficult to make in the past. They may send money to every charitable organization that contacts them and give out personal information to strangers. Or they will buy unnecessary things online or from the TV.
Lack of Concentration
An individual may be easily distracted and have the inability to focus on any task for a period of time. An indication of this is usually found by family members when they come to visit and find the mail and newspapers piled up. In that pile of bills are shut off notices and late payment notices.
Placing Belongings in Inappropriate Places
We all put things in the wrong place, but a person with early signs of dementia, will put useful and everyday objects in strange places. A toothbrush under the bed or foods under the pillow or shoes in the oven are just a few examples of things one may find.
Mood and Personality Changes
Symptoms of dementia may appear with subtle personality changes. An individual may be more emotional or appear depressed or anxious. Others will turn from being happy and glad to anger and accusatory behaviors in a matter of seconds. Some individuals will have a more blunted affect, and appear uninterested in topics that normally would be of interest to them. Signs of dementia may present with an increase in anxiety or anger that was not a part of a person’s personality before.
Lack of Interest in Life
One of the symptoms of dementia is apathy. A person shows little to no interest in enjoying or participating in their life. They seem to lose interest in anything, even taking care of their own personal hygiene. A normal jovial person will be found sitting in front of the TV for hours or a once meticulous housekeeper suddenly allows the pets in the family on the couch or eating in the once forbidden living room. Many individuals in the early stages of dementia will become passively involved in their own lives.
If you find yourself or someone else with these symptoms of dementia, you should see your health care professional for testing.
Other articles about mental decline
Causes of Memory Loss
Early Signs of Merory Loss and Dementia
From Symptoms of Dementia to Aging Home Health Care Home
Top of Symptoms of Dementia
|
