10 Warning Signs to Watch For

According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, an early dementia diagnosis can help the person diagnosed choose treatment options, plan for the future and live well. These 10 warning signs are different than normal age-related aging and should be noted.

1. Memory loss that affects day-to-day life

Including forgetting where you parked your car and having to take the bus home.

2. Difficulty with familiar tasks

Such as struggling to prepare a cup of coffee or a sandwich.

3. Difficulty with language

Frequently struggling with vocabulary and being unable to find the right words.

4. Confusion of time and place

Including getting lost in a familiar place and being unable to find your way home.

5. Poor Judgement

Unusual changes in judgment and decision-making including wearing a winter jacket on a hot day.

6. Difficulty with abstract thinking

Consistently struggling with numbers, such as not finding the correct change and being unable to read a non-digital clock.

7. Misplacing things

Leaving things in odd places such as putting the milk in the pantry or placing keys in the bathroom vanity.

8. Changes in mood and behaviour

Experiencing rapid and unprovoked changes in mood. Becoming easily upset and paranoid.

9. Personality changes

Extreme changes in personality, such as an outgoing person becoming withdrawn and introverted.

10. Loss of initiative

Withdrawing from work, hobbies and social activities.  [ ]