What Changes Can I Expect
- The first signs of young-onset dementia can be similar to those of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, although the sequence in which signs appear varies from person to person. Typical signs include:
- Personality changes, such as abruptness and insensitivity
- Frequent lapses of memory, particularly involving recent memories
- Forgetting appointments or the names of colleagues at work
- Unsettling moments of disorientation in previously familiar places
- Being unable to find the way home
- Becoming confused about familiar tasks such as handling money or placing a call
- Difficulty finding the right words
- Difficulty with voluntary movements or physical coordination
- Struggling to learn new things and adapting to changes at home or at work
- Losing interest in activities that were enjoyed previously
- Withdrawing from social contact
Symptoms Of Mild Cognitive Impairment
Some people have a condition called mild cognitive impairment, or MCI. It can be an early sign of Alzheimers. But, not everyone with MCI will develop Alzheimers disease. People with MCI can still take care of themselves and do their normal activities. MCI memory problems may include:
- Losing things often
- Forgetting to go to events or appointments
- Having more trouble coming up with words than other people the same age
Learn more about Alzheimer’s disease from MedlinePlus.
What Can I Expect If I Have Dementia
Getting a diagnosis of dementia is certainly difficult to hear. Several types of dementia arent reversible. Others are a side effect of other serious diseases. Some dementia-like symptoms are due to conditions that can be treated and reversed.
Your healthcare team, which will probably include a neurologist and/or a geriatric-psychiatrist or a geriatrician, will order the needed tests to make the correct diagnosis. The medications available today focus on slowing the decline.
The goal is to maintain your or your loved ones quality of life. Some people with Alzheimers dementia can live up to two decades, but each person has their own unique course. Researchers continue learning about the mechanisms that cause dementia and testing different methods to slow, and someday, hopefully, cure this disease.
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What Happens After A Diagnosis Of Younger Onset Dementia
A diagnosis of younger onset dementia can come as a shock. The person affected, and their family and friends may all feel angry or sad. They might not believe it. There can be a huge sense of loss. These feelings are normal.
But help and support is available, and it is better to get it earlier than later.
Younger people with dementia need to think about several issues.
Becoming Totally Uninterested In Everything
One of the most common changes those with Alzheimer’s go through is no longer being interested in things they used to loveor no longer being interested in anything, for that matter. A 2001 study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society revealed that, while disinterest is a frequent symptom among those with Alzheimer’s, it’s also one of the most under-recognized signs. Researchers at the University of Exeter conducted a study in 2019, and they found that nearly half of all people with dementia experience apathy.
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Conditions With Symptoms Similar To Dementia
Remember that many conditions have symptoms similar to dementia, so it is important not to assume that someone has dementia just because some of the above symptoms are present. Strokes, depression, excessive long-term alcohol consumption, infections, hormonal disorders, nutritional deficiencies and brain tumours can all cause dementia-like symptoms. Many of these conditions can be treated.
Be Open With Family And Friends
- Talk to your spouse and/or other close family members about your thoughts, fears, and wishes. Your family can help you plan for the future, including decisions about health care and legal and financial issues.
- Talk openly with children about your disease. Understand that they may be feeling concerned, confused, upset, or afraid. If appropriate, involve your children in discussions and decisions that affect the whole family.
- Your friends or neighbors might not know how to react to your diagnosis. They may feel like they dont know what to say or how to help and may be waiting for you to make the first move. Invite friends to spend time with you. And dont be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
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Key Points About Early
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Alzheimer disease commonly affects older people, but early-onset Alzheimer disease can affect people in their 30s or 40s.
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It affects memory, thinking, and behavior.
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Although there is no known cure, early diagnosis and treatment can lead to better quality of life.
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Stay healthy with a good diet and regular exercise.
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Avoid alcohol and other substances that may affect memory, thinking, and behavior.
How Do I Treat Early
An important part of managing your condition is to stay as positive as you can. Keep up with the activities you still enjoy. Try different ways to relax, like yoga or deep breathing.
Keep your body in good shape, too. Make sure you eat healthy food and get regular exercise.
Medications can help with some symptoms of early-onset Alzheimer’s. Your doctor may prescribe drugs to help with memory loss, such as:
These medicines can delay or improve your symptoms for a few months to a few years. They may give you more time to live independently.
The doctor also may also suggest sleeping pills, antidepressants, or tranquilizers to manage other problems related to Alzheimer’s, like insomnia, night terrors, and anxiety.
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Stage : Age Associated Memory Impairment
This stage features occasional lapses of memory most frequently seen in:
- Forgetting where one has placed an object
- Forgetting names that were once very familiar
Oftentimes, this mild decline in memory is merely normal age-related cognitive decline, but it can also be one of the earliest signs of degenerative dementia. At this stage, signs are still virtually undetectable through clinical testing. Concern for early onset of dementia should arise with respect to other symptoms.
Trouble With The Passage Of Time
Typically, time isn’t a real problem. Most people are able to tell the difference between a few minutes and a few hours. But one early sign of Alzheimer’s is when someone’s perception of time is affected.
“Five minutes can seem like five hours for someone with ,” Lisa P. Gwyther, MSW, LCSW, an associate professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University, told CBS News. “So a husband may think his wife has been gone for hours or even weeks, even if it’s just been a few minutes, or he might tell his grandchild that he hasn’t seen him in five years, even though he just saw him yesterday.”
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Promoting Early Diagnosis Of Dementia
The early symptoms of dementia can include memory problems, difficulties in word finding and thinking processes, changes in personality or behaviour, a lack of initiative or changes in day to day function at home, at work or in taking care of oneself. This information does not include details about all of these warning signs, so it is recommended that you seek other sources of information. If you notice signs in yourself or in a family member or friend, it is important to seek medical help to determine the cause and significance of these symptoms.
Obtaining a diagnosis of dementia can be a difficult, lengthy and intensive process. While circumstances differ from person to person, Dementia Australia believes that everyone has the right to:
- A thorough and prompt assessment by medical professionals,
- Sensitive communication of a diagnosis with appropriate explanation of symptoms and prognosis,
- Sufficient information to make choices about the future,
- Maximal involvement in the decision making process,
- Ongoing maintenance and management, and
- Access to support and services.
A Failing Sense Of Direction
A persons sense of direction and spatial orientation commonly starts to get worse with the onset of dementia. They may have difficulty recognizing once-familiar landmarks and forget how to get to familiar places they used to have no trouble finding.
It may also become more difficult to follow a series of directions and step-by-step instructions.
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Time And Location Confused
One of the most common signs of early-onset Alzheimers is time and location confusion.
When speaking of the former, it is not just about the hour of the day a person that might have Alzheimers disease also starts to have an issue with keeping up with days, weeks, heck, even time of the year.
On the other hand, they become unfamiliar with the location they are at or do not remember how they got there. If this happens once or twice, do not panic.
However, if it keeps on happening , you better take your loved one to see a specialist as soon as possible.
Changes In Mood Or Emotion
The person may be more anxious, frightened or sad, and so at risk of depression. It is also common to become more irritable perhaps in frustration at lost abilities or easily upset. A person can often be more withdrawn, lack self-confidence and lose interest in hobbies or people.
Changes in behaviour are not common in early-stage dementia, other than in FTD. A person with behavioural variant FTD may lose their inhibitions and behave in socially inappropriate ways. They may also act impulsively and lose empathy for others.
Significant physical changes at this stage tend to be limited to DLB, where problems with movement are similar to Parkinsons disease. If someone with vascular or mixed dementia has a stroke, this can lead to weak limbs on one side.
Need help finding dementia information?Need help finding dementia information? .
Everybody forgets things from time to time. But if you or other people are noticing that memory problems are getting worse, or affecting everyday life, it could be a sign of dementia.
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Whats The Difference Between Dementia And Alzheimers Disease
Dementia is a description of the state of a persons mental function and not a specific disease. Dementia is an umbrella category describing mental decline thats severe enough to interfere with daily living.
There are many underlying causes of dementia, including Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons disease. Alzheimers disease is the most common underlying cause of dementia.
Putting Things In Strange Places
Everyone forgets where they put their keys every once in a while, and sometimes you’re so tired that you might accidentally put the milk in the cupboard. That’s totally normal! For those with Alzheimer’s, though, misplacing possessions and putting them in places that don’t make sense happens with startling frequency, according to the Mayo Clinic. And for more age-related health issues to be aware of, check out these 40 Things Doctors Say Affect Your Health After 40.
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Vision And Spatial Issues
Many people with Alzheimers disease also start to experience issues with vision and spatial awareness during the early stages. The most common vision problems make it difficult for a person to judge the correct distance between objects.
This is one of the reasons most people with the illness cannot drive because they can easily cause accidents. Other than vision problems, it may also become challenging to tell colors apart. Other visual problems that people with Alzheimers experience include:
Reduced ability to detect movement
Persons in this state will view the world as still photos instead of an ongoing video like normal people do. This makes it difficult to engage in activities that involve quick motion.
Contrast sensitivity
Detecting gradients of color becomes difficult for people who have Alzheimers. This makes it challenging to pick out objects that are in uniform color.
For instance, an individual may have a hard time finding a toilet in a washroom where the walls, floor, and toilet are blue.
Reduced peripheral vision
This is where a persons field of vision dramatically narrows so that they cannot see either side while gazing forward. A person in such a state tends to bump into things continually and becomes disoriented.
Expert Dementia & Alzheimers Care In Oakbrook Terrace Il
If caring for a loved one with dementia or Alzheimers has become more than you can handle, Terra Vista is here to lend a helping hand. Were an all-inclusive memory care assisted living community that provides 24-hour personalized memory care services to help your loved one feel right at home. Youre never alone in this process. Terra Vista is there to help you and your loved one every step of the way. Schedule a consultation today to speak with a memory care expert about your next steps.
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Signs Of Mild Alzheimers Disease
In mild Alzheimers disease, a person may seem to be healthy but has more and more trouble making sense of the world around him or her. The realization that something is wrong often comes gradually to the person and his or her family. Problems can include:
- Poor judgment leading to bad decisions
- Loss of spontaneity and sense of initiative
- Taking longer to complete normal daily tasks
- Repeating questions
- Increased sleeping
- Loss of bowel and bladder control
A common cause of death for people with Alzheimers disease is aspiration pneumonia. This type of pneumonia develops when a person cannot swallow properly and takes food or liquids into the lungs instead of air.
There is currently no cure for Alzheimers, though there are medicines that can treat the symptoms of the disease.
Early Signs And Symptoms Of Dementia In Men
Dementia is a term used to describe significant cognitive impairment. These impairments are often seen in two or more critical brain functions such as memory, language, judgment, and reasoning. Deficiencies in these aspects of cognitive ability can significantly affect a persons daily functioning, making them require constant aid.
The most common form of dementia is Alzheimers disease, but there exist multiple forms of dementia that exhibit a varying degree of symptoms and presentations to help differentiate them from each other. Some of these other forms of dementia include vascular dementia, which may be the result of stroke and vasculitis, and frontal lobe dementia, which is relatively rare and thought to be inherited.
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Trouble Solving Problems And Planning
It is also common for people who are developing Alzheimers to have a hard time planning and problem-solving. A person can easily make plans but ends up not sticking to them.
It can also become challenging to complete tasks that were not a problem in the past. These mostly involve detailed projects with lots of numbers.
It is not uncommon to see a person with the illness having trouble balancing checkbooks or keeping up with bills or finances.
This, in most cases, may progress to a person not being able to recognize numbers or know how to deal with them. Some people may also have issues in the kitchen where following simple recipes becomes a huge task.
Multitasking at this point becomes strenuous because concentration levels may also decline.
Are There Different Types Of Dementia
Dementias can be divided into three groups:
- Reversible dementia-like symptoms caused by other illnesses or causes.
Primary dementia
Types of primary dementia include:
Dementia due to other diseases and conditions
Other causes of dementia include:
Dementias due to reversible causes
Some conditions can cause dementia-like symptoms that can be reversed with treatment, including:
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The Top 10 Signs Of Dementia And Alzheimer’s Disease
The key to managing Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia is to catch it early. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease begin as long as 20 years before symptoms appear, so it pays to be on the lookout for any and all signs and symptoms.
Here are the top 10 warning signs of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease:
Preparing For Early Onset Ad
Receiving an early onset AD diagnosis can be worrying. Now is the time to put together a plan so that you have peace of mind for the future when symptoms appear or intensify.
Try creating a plan together with your family, friends, and medical team. It can also be beneficial to meet with a financial planner and a lawyer.
Here are some key things to consider:
- Education. You may find it helpful to learn more about AD and how it progresses. Talk with your doctor and learn about what your care plan could look like in the future.
- Health insurance. Find out which medications and treatments are covered by your plan.
- Future care costs. What will your medical and care expenses be? This may include professional home care of safety equipment for the home.
- Disability insurance. What is covered by your employer? What documentation is needed?
- Loss of income. Will you be able to keep working? If so, for how long? Will someone in your family need to stop working in order to become a caregiver?
- Power of attorney. Who will have the authority to make health, financial, and legal decisions for you when you cant any more?
- Support. Try finding a support group specifically for people with early onset AD and their caregivers. Their life situations are likely to be more similar to yours.
Its important to have a detailed, realistic plan for your future care. This will allow you to be more confident as you navigate through the stages of AD.
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