Dementia unfortunately slowly takes away people’s memories. The Mayo Clinic describes dementia as not a specific disease, but rather a group of symptoms that affects the memory and sense of judgment. Early on, Dementia can be difficult to detect because warning signs are not always obvious.
The following are five different ways to detect whether a loved one may or may not have this illness.
1. Losing Empathy for Others- If someone you know and are close too goes from being kind and considerate to rude and speaking inappropriately, this may be displaying signs for dementia. They may have once been able to act appropriately in public, but now have lost the mental capacity to understand why it is not acceptable to say hurtful things.
2. Lack of Embarrassment- Along with the loss of empathy, another social cue they may lack is understanding how they feel, as well as how others in social situations. This leads to the disappearance of embarrassment about things others may normally be embarrassed about, such as tripping and falling in front of a large group of people.
3. Recurrent Falling- It is important to note that everyone falls from time to time, but falling several times a day is both dangerous and can also can be a sign of dementia. An international conference for the Alzheimer’s association in Paris looked at over 100 older adults and tracked how often they slipped or fell during an eight month span of time. Results showed that the participants who fell more often were in the beginning stages of dementia.
4. Money Problems- Budgeting your money and paying your bills on time is imperative, so when an older individual starts to lose a grasp on this, dementia could be why. The individual may say that this is due to “old age” but be mindful of this, and have them seek help in managing their finances.
5. Eating Expired Food- The last and maybe most surprising of the five signs of dementia is eating food that is spoiled and forgetting to replace it with fresh, edible food. It is important to mention that is does not mean food that expired a couple of days ago or even a week ago. This is referring to food that expired months ago, so keep an eye out when eating with your loved one.
Resources:
http://www.everydayhealth.com/alzheimers-pictures/11-early-signs-of-dementia.aspx#/slide-6
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dementia/DS01131
