Dementia consists of multiple symptoms that affect a person’s memory, and interferes with their daily life. It is possible for someone to suffer from memory loss from something other than dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the main cause of dementia. Vascular dementia is the second most common type of dementia.

Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and mixed dementia are also common forms of the disease. Common early symptoms of dementia include:

1. Challenges understanding visual information
For someone with dementia it can be difficult to process visual information. They may experience difficulty reading, telling the difference between colors, and judging distances.

2. Speech issues
Patients with dementia often experience communication issues. They may have trouble joining or keeping track during conversations. They might stop suddenly while talking and struggle to collect and communicate their thoughts. They may also experience trouble with words or recalling the names of objects.

3. Misplacing personal items
Misplacing things is a very common symptom of dementia. A person with dementia may forget where they have left common things that they use everyday (i.e., medications, keys or personal items, like eyeglasses or hearing aids). Sometimes they may even become frustrated and accuse others of stealing from them.

4. Poor judgement
For a person suffering from dementia, decision making abilities may suffer. For example, some patients do things that are out of character. For instance, they may pay less attention to their personal hygiene and upkeep, they may even buy things or take risks that they normally wouldn’t.

5. Memory loss
People with dementia may experience difficulty remembering things past and present. It’s not unusual for us  to become forgetful as we age, but age related forgetfulness and dementia are two totally different things. Patients with dementia may have to depend on caregivers to keep things organized for them (i.e., medications and personal appointments).

6. Problem solving difficulties
Experiencing trouble completing common tasks like paying bills, or trying to concentrate on a task at hand is another common symptom of dementia. For a person with dementia, doing common tasks (i.e., getting dressed) may take much longer than it did before. They experience a hard time following instructions or focusing.

7. Confusion about time and place
Dementia can often cause patients to lose track of the seasons, months, even years. It’s not uncommon for a patient with dementia to believe years have passed when it may have only been minutes that passed or vice versa. They may even forget where they are, and become confused about how they got there.

Dementia results when nerve cells lose their connections to the brain. Risk factors of dementia include family history, age, down syndrome, heavy alcohol use, diabetes, smoking, brian injury, and sleep apnea. While dementia cannot be cured, medication can be prescribed to help manage symptoms. For people experiencing early symptoms of dementia, taking brain boosting suplements or neuro boost vitamins could help manage symptoms. It is important to recognize the early warning symptoms of dementia.