How to Know if a Loved One Has Dementia – Recognizing Dementia’s Tell-Tale Symptoms

It’s normal for people to get more forgetful when they age. But dementia goes beyond that typical tip of your tongue feeling when you forget someone’s name at the grocery store. Dementia results from damage or disease in the brain. What clues could spell when it’s time to seek more help? Recognizing these common early symptoms could let you know…

If your loved one shows signs of dementia, our advanced neurological center in Palm Harbor, Florida provides a program that can slow dementia’s progress or even reverse it. Many of our patients even resume an independent lifestyle. If you’d like to speak with neurologist Dr. Allan Spiegel, M.D. to learn if our Dementia Treatment Program including Occupational Therapy is right for you or your family member with dementia, simply click here or call 727-787-7077.

Read more: Recognizing Dementia’s Tell-Tale Symptoms

How to Know if a Loved One Has Dementia

Sometimes it can be tricky to know where forgetfulness ends and dementia begins. The best way to know for certain is to seek the advice of a specialist who can perform simple, but accurate tests. Noticing the following early symptoms could help you decide when it’s time to get an evaluation:

• Losing short term memory: One early sign of dementia is loss of short term memory. Can the person recall details from their life years ago but not remember what they ate for lunch? Do they sometimes forget where they just put their glasses, why they walked into a room, or that they had a date for lunch with a friend?
• Struggling to find the right words: This is a typical problem with the onset of dementia. Does the person have trouble communicating their thoughts or explaining things? Do their words seem mixed-up or confused? Do you find it challenging to hold or wrap up a conversation with them?
• Mood changes: Dementia frequently brings on changes in mood or personality shifts. Have you noticed the person seems depressed or fearful when they didn’t used to be? Do they now speak to strangers or act sociably when they used to be shy?
• Loses interest in activities that used to be fun: This kind of apathy often occurs during early dementia. Has the person stopped going out with friends or given up on hobbies? Have they lost interest in birthdays or other family events? Do they seem flat, emotionally?
• Normal tasks take more effort: Having difficulty completing familiar tasks may be a sign of early dementia. For instance, does the person have a harder time balancing a checkbook or counting up points after a game of cards?
• Confused by storylines: One classic early sign of dementia is losing track of a story. Does the person have difficulty following the gist of a conversation or the plot of a movie?
• Repeating themselves: With a memory that’s fading, those with dementia frequently become repetitive – both with words and tasks. Does the person repeat the same question frequently, even after you’ve answered it? Do they repeat daily tasks, like brushing their teeth or shaving twice in the morning?
• Getting lost easily: Those with early dementia often find their sense of direction and location decline. Does the person lose their way when driving in familiar places? Do they miss long-recognized landmarks? Do they have trouble following directions, guides or step-by-step instructions?

If you or your loved one shows these signs of dementia, our advanced neurological center in Palm Harbor, Florida provides a program that can slow dementia’s progress or sometimes even reverse it. Many of our patients even resume their independence. If you’d like to speak with neurologist Dr. Allan Spiegel, M.D. to learn if our Dementia Treatment Program including Occupational Therapy is right for you or your family member with dementia, call 727-787-7077.

Caring for Aging Family Members with Dementia 5 Tips to Help With Dementia’s Emotional Roller Coaster:

Anyone who has lived with a parent or other aging relative with dementia will tell you how tiring and frustrating it can feel. Whether or not their symptoms are caused by Alzheimer’s disease, those suffering from dementia often act in troubling ways – from intense confusion to fits of temper. But how we respond as caregivers can definitely make our own lives easier.

If your loved one shows signs of dementia, our advanced neurological center in Palm Harbor, Florida provides a program that can slow dementia’s progress or even reverse it. Many of our patients even resume an independent lifestyle. If you’d like to speak with neurologist Dr. Allan Spiegel, M.D. to learn ifour Dementia Treatment Program including Occupational Therapy is right for you or your family member with dementia, simply click here or call 727-787-7077.

Are you doing these 5 important things to help you and your loved one get through the day?

Read more: 5 Tips to Help with Dementia’s Emotional Roller Coaster

Perhaps the greatest challenge of taking care of a parent or other loved one with dementia is coping with their changing behaviors and moods. The 5 tips below will help you to develop a creative and flexible approach to the daily struggles you both face:

1. Keep communications simple and reassuring: Use short sentences and simple words and speak slowly. Repeat your questions, statements or answers if your loved one seems confused. If he or she still doesn’t understand, wait a few minutes, then rephrase what you just said. Keeping a calm demeanor and using a soft, low voice can often head off or deflect your loved one’s irritability.

2. Try to accommodate, not correct your loved ones’ behaviors: If he or she wants to do something unusual, as long as it doesn’t present a danger or lead to a huge mess for you to clean up, help them to achieve it.

3. Suspect pain or other medical causes: Many times loved ones with dementia display odd behaviors or get testy because they’re experiencing pain, but are unable to describe their symptoms. A doctor checkup can sometimes work wonders.

4. Make tasks more manageable: Often, our loved ones with dementia forget how to accomplish simple tasks that they used to complete with ease – leading to frustration. Use gentle reminders
to cue them if they have forgotten a step. It can also help to give visual cues, like pointing to a drawer that contains a pen or screwdriver, for example.

5. Learn how to distract and redirect: If your loved one gets irritated or upset, changing the subject or the environment often helps. For instance, ask him or her to help you with a task or suggest going out for a stroll. It’s important to empathize before you redirect. Try saying something like, “I can see you feel bad right now, and that’s okay. Let’s take a walk around the yard and listen to the birds.”

It’s important to recognize you are not alone. Lots of children and spouses care for loved ones with dementia. Familiarize yourself with important resources and organizations that can help, like your local Alzheimer’s Association chapter. But you should also know that sometimes symptoms of dementia can be improved or even reversed with the right kinds of treatment.

At our state-of-the-art Dementia Care Facilities in Palm Harbor, Florida, we offer a Dementia Treatment Program that includes Occupational Therapy to improve mental function and memory. Many of our patients are even able to resume a more independent lifestyle. Neurologist Allan Spiegel, M.D. offers personalized assessments to see whether our Dementia Care Program could be right for your loved one. To schedule an appointment, simply call 727-787-7077.