The mental disorder known as dementia affects the mind and
memory of a patient. This condition is often quite difficult to
accept and symptoms of dementia are generally dismissed for
"senior moments" or "brain fogs" instead of taken as legitimate
signs of a potentially serious medical issue.
An estimated five to eight percent of men and women over the age
of 65 experience some problem with dementia, and an astonishing
25 to 50 percent of individuals over the age of 80 are faced
with some form of dementia.
The best way to combat dementia from progressing rapidly and
claiming more and more of the patient's memory, mind, and life
is to identify the medical condition as early as possible.
Finding the symptoms of dementia early is the key for giving the
patient the most hope for stopping or even reversing the
disease.
The most common symptoms of dementia are those associated with
memory.
Although it is not unusual for men and women to forget things or
misplace things as they age, there is a fine line between
regularly forgetfulness and dementia.
Usually dementia is more associated with the short term memory,
so that patients are unable to keep appointments or recall
conversations held a few minutes ago, but are able to remember
events, names, dates, and other important information from their
childhood or early adulthood.
This is especially true in the case of individuals diagnosed
with Alzheimer's , although as the disease continues to
progress, the memory span is shortened further.
To determine the difference between regularly forgetfulness and
dementia, make an appointment with a specialist in the field.
A specialist will be able to run special diagnosing tests on the
patient to determine if the mind is experiencing signs of
dementia.
Another common sign of dementia and Alzheimer's is the loss of
ability to do common things, including locking doors, cooking,
driving, or reading.
Also, a patient may not be able to follow favorite television
shows or movies, since he or she may forget the plot or the
characters.
A common method of diagnosing memory problems is a sudden
showing of inappropriate, irritable, or hostile behavior.
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