Seeing a parent or spouse lose their mental faculties is a heartbreaking experience. In many ways, it’s similar to losing them, and it puts so much strain on families to find care options before the situation becomes dangerous for them. Even small signs of dementia, such as repeating a question within a few minutes or forgetting someone’s name, can make families worried.
However, misdiagnosing signs of Alzheimer’s and dementia can be just as damaging as ignoring them. If the signs are simply a part of aging and don’t reflect a more serious issue, seniors can be moved to intensive care before they’re ready. This can cause rifts between family members and lead to feelings of depression and guilt. These are not easy bridges to rebuild, which is why making the right call on a senior loved one’s care options is so important.
Here’s a practical guide to accurately recognizing the signs of dementia in your loved one, including how to tell them apart from normal signs of aging. The Courtyard at Centerville provides 55+ living, independent living, assisted living, and memory care services so that families have plenty of options to choose their loved one’s care with confidence.
What Causes Dementia?
Dementia is really an umbrella term for multiple conditions, including Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia. People can also be diagnosed with a combination of conditions, known as mixed dementia.
Each type has a different physical cause, which can range from genetics to specific proteins. The Mayo Clinic outlines this medical context, which needs to be diagnosed by an in-person physician. However, one important thing to keep in mind is this list of conditions that can cause symptoms of dementia, but require different treatments:
- Infections
- Immune disorders
- Thyroid conditions
- Low blood sugar
- Low levels of vitamin B-1, B-6, B-12, copper, or vitamin E
- Dehydration
- Medication side effects
- Brain tumors
- Head trauma
Before searching for dementia care in Centerville, OH, these possibilities should always be factors in researching a loved one’s condition and asking their doctor questions about other possibilities. Misdiagnosing a vitamin deficiency as dementia can lead to unnecessary care costs and broken family relationships.
Early Signs of Dementia to Recognize
The Alzheimer’s Association outlines warning signs that separate dementia from typical age-related changes. One sign alone rarely confirms a diagnosis, but several happening at the same time or getting noticeably worse could mean it’s time to speak with a doctor. Here’s a summary of each sign, as well as everyday things that families can watch for:
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Memory Loss
Memory loss that disrupts daily life is more significant than forgetting an actor’s name. This memory loss involves things they wouldn’t normally forget, such as familiar routes or names, and can get worse over time.
Things to Watch For: Conversations becoming more difficult, especially over the phone, more handwritten notes, or more questions about things they should already know
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Planning and Problem-Solving Challenges
Dementia can make concentrating on a complex task more difficult, leading to things taking longer.
Things to Watch For: New difficulties in complex yet familiar tasks, such as following a recipe or remembering to pay a household bill
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Difficulties Doing Familiar Things
People with dementia often struggle with tasks that they’ve performed successfully for years.
Things to Watch For: Forgetting the rules of a familiar game, failing to follow a simple grocery list, or losing their way to a familiar destination
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Confusing Times or Places
In addition to issues with directions and procedures, people with dementia often lose track of time. They may not understand waiting for something or may become agitated about being “where they are,” as opposed to where they think they are.
Things to Watch For: Not knowing what month or season it is or having new irritability surrounding things not happening immediately
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Trouble With Visual Images
Changes in vision and perception can lead to issues with judging distance or seeing the right colors.
Things to Watch For: New scratches or dents on the car or strange observations about things happening on TV, as if they’re happening in the room
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New Issues With Speaking or Writing
This type of memory loss may cause unusual speech patterns or struggles with common vocabulary.
Things to Watch For: Stopping in the middle of a conversation, repeating themselves, or misnaming a familiar object, such as calling a watch a “clock” or a TV remote a “phone”
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Misplacing Things Without Being Able to Find Them
A person living with dementia may put things in an unusual spot and be unable to retrace their steps to find them, leading to feelings of anxiety over missing objects.
Things to Watch For: Claims that small things are being stolen or disappearing
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Poor Judgment Calls
Poor decision-making can be an early warning sign, such as becoming worse with money or failing to do simple tasks around the home.
Things to Watch For: Worsening issues with dirty clothes and dishes, failing to maintain a vehicle, or making bad decisions with money
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Withdrawing From Social Activities
Dementia can cause withdrawal from hobbies or social activities, leading to feelings of depression and isolation.
Things to Watch For: Unusual disinterest in family events, absences from social obligations, or failing to follow an activity or sports team
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Mood Changes
Dementia can affect personality, leading to confusion, depression, fear, anxiety, and other changes.
Things to Watch For: Being easily upset by normal interactions, especially in an accusatory or suspicious way
Signs of Dementia vs. Normal Aging
While these symptoms of dementia can cause families to worry, every situation is different. Your parent may show some of these symptoms in a way that simply means they’re aging normally, which can often affect memory in different ways. For example, they may forget a name but remember it later or misplace something because they were distracted.
When a symptom is truly a sign of dementia, it can’t be easily explained by normal circumstances and often gets worse over time. The lapses often become more frequent or dangerous, such as going from forgetting a name to forgetting to turn off the stove. They also include mood changes more frequently than normal lapses due to aging. For example, misplacing the remote is one thing, but claiming that it was stolen or becoming irritable is another.
Free Guide: 5 Steps to Recognize Dementia and Plan Care
Many families stress about these signs of aging and wonder if they’re signs of dementia. This free guide helps families recognize the signs, monitor their progress, ask their doctor the right questions, and make the right plan of action for their loved one’s care.
Have the Conversation Early to Find Care Options
Many families wait to have their senior loved one evaluated by a professional until their dementia has progressed to a medical issue or even an emergency. This is understandable since most adult children don’t want to confront such a difficult issue with their parents, and dementia itself often makes the conversation harder and harder to start.
Recognizing these signs of Alzheimer’s and dementia early can help adult children start the long-term care conversation while their parent can still make decisions and understand their condition. A community with multiple tiers of care, such as assisted living and memory care on one campus, can allow families to move their parent to the care they need without unnecessarily taking away their freedom.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between normal aging and dementia?
Normal aging can result in slower recall and occasional forgetfulness, but these issues often self-resolve and stay relatively stable. Dementia causes memory and thinking problems that disrupt daily life and worsen over time, even affecting self-care.
At what point should a family seek a dementia evaluation?
A talk with a physician makes sense when memory lapses grow frequent, affect daily tasks, raise the risk of harm, or worry close family and friends. Early evaluation can reveal treatable causes and give family time to plan long-term care.
What is the difference between assisted living and memory care?
Assisted living helps seniors with daily tasks while preserving independence. Memory care provides a secure setting and specialized support for seniors with dementia who need consistent supervision and routines.
Are there caregivers for dementia in Centerville, OH?
The Courtyard at Centerville provides trained caregivers for dementia within its memory care community.
Support for Dementia Care in Centerville, OH
The Courtyard at Centerville provides 55+ villas in their own space, as well as independent living, assisted living, and memory care together on one campus. This provides families with an incredible asset in planning ahead for their loved one’s care since they can choose the level of independence they can still handle, while leaving options open for greater levels of care as the need arises. Noticing the signs of dementia and acting early can help families act in their loved one’s best interest and make a stressful situation less of a burden.
Schedule a Tour at The Courtyard to Learn More
The team at The Courtyard at Centerville helps families recognize the signs of dementia and find the right level of support in Centerville, OH. Schedule a tour to talk through the best options for your loved one’s situation, including four on-site community types that can provide different levels of care at any stage.
