Dementia is a general term that refers to memory loss and other thinking abilities that are severe enough to affect someone’s daily functioning. People often mistake dementia as a single disease. However, it is a general term that is used to describe grouped disorders that cause brain changes. These changes are adverse such that they change cognitive and thinking abilities.

The most common dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, dementia changes feelings, behaviour, and relationships with other individuals. The early symptoms of dementia include the following:

1. Short-term memory loss
Loss of memory is the most common early symptom of dementia. These changes involve short term loss of memory, particularly with the elderly. For instance, an individual may remember activities that happened some few years ago, but they are unable to recall what they did some few hours ago. Other examples of memory loss include forgetting important dates and forgetting where they placed some items. With dementia, individuals rely on memory aids such as reminder notes and electronic gadgets. You notice that they keep on asking the same questions over and over again. In some cases, individuals at early stages of dementia tend to go to rooms and forget the reasons they visited the place or what they are supposed to do on a particular date. Sometimes forgetting names of individuals and remembering them later is considered as an early warning sign of dementia.

2. Struggling with communication
Difficulty in finding the right words during communication is an early sign of dementia. They find it difficult to communicate their thoughts. Individuals suffering from early dementia have difficulty in explaining something. They tend to forget basic words which they previously utilized during communication. This is as a result of short term memory loss due to the damage of the frontal lobe and memory cells. Contact with someone suffering from early dementia may be tiring and long to conclude. When an individual starts to experience difficulties in communications and to forget some basic words, it might be an early symptom of dementia.

3. Difficulty completing everyday tasks
Difficulties in the ability to complete normal tasks are an indicator of early dementia. It begins by experiencing challenges in doing quite complex duties such as playing games with many rules or balancing the chequebook. For instance, people suffering from the disease forget handling small tasks such as getting the correct change after doing some shopping or purchasing the wrong items. Struggling to complete familiar tasks is a key indicator of early dementia. Moreover, they struggle to learn new normal jobs. This is mainly caused by memory loss.

4. Mood changes
A change in mood is common with dementia. When suffering from the disorder, individuals don’t see an error with themselves but notice changes in someone else. For instance, when arguing, they tend to notice a mistake in someone else’s argument rather than theirs. Depression is also an indicator of early dementia. Persons suffering from the disease may also see a shift in personality. One change in character for individuals with dementia is a shift from a shy to an outgoing person. Moreover, personality changes affect the judgment of an individual. For instance, they pay less attention to keeping themselves clean or dealing with money.