The Onset of dementia is gradual, and sometimes, often confused with regular ageing. However, it is important to remember that dementia is nota process of normal ageing. It is an illness and doesn’t affect all elderly people.
Different types of dementia can produce varying symptoms in each individual. Ifa person who is usually quite temperamental, it might not be because of dementia but more because of their personality. If the same person is being more temperamental than they usually are, it might be a sign of dementia.
Some common early signs of dementia include:
- Memory difficulties: Misplacing important items like keys, wallets, official documents etc.; forgetting day/date/year/month or important events like festivals and birthdays; making lists to remember things; forgetting recipes if they regularly cook and so on
- Subtle language and communication difficulties:Such as searching for words during conversations; forgetting or mixing up names of people, objects or places; using the wrong word during conversation; making minor grammatical errors and so on
- Difficulty planning, making decisions, solving problems: Being unable to carry out tasks involving many steps which they otherwise usually can; unable to pay attention to many things simultaneously; giving up responsibilities to others and refraining from being involved in planning events like weddings or festivals and so on.
- Being moody: Being easily irritable, low frustration tolerance, crying spells, temperamental or aggressive – more than usual
- Becoming inactive and being disinterested in any activity: (losing interest in activities they usually took part in, being withdrawn, less sociable and so on.
- Needing help with some of the activities that they were able to do independently previously: Such as starting to get overly dependent on other family members for complex tasks that involve a lot of thinking; struggling with tasks that are new and involve learning; struggling with managing finances as well as they used to and so on