Early signs of dementia

Yes, they are, I think. I saw on tv once that its things like knowing what ingredients are needed to make a cake, and then being unable to remember how to do it.

Whenever they have a GP programme on and they do a test with their patient I do it and usually pass well I can still beat people at word games do sudoku and remember some important phone numbers however ask me what happened yesterday or what I ate for my main meal or what the weather was like a few days before or where I put my keys/purse/ remote control or what I went upstairs for and I m stumped My recall of faces and names is much worse than it used to be as far as I m concerned this is normal well if it isn’t all my 12 school friends ( who meet up for monthly lunch or coffee) and myself have all got early stage dementia

I heard that when you find you’ve put your car keys in the fridge, it might be a cause for concern! Not just forgetting names.

Explanation that might help. Dementia is not forgetting what your passcode is, it is forgetting what the bank machine is for. I read this in a newspaper. It makes sense to me.

Forgetting what you went to the fridge for is ok. Forgetting what the fridge is, is a problem.

A friend said yesterday it is forgetting how to make a cup of tea as it’s quite a complex process. There’s so much publicity about dementia I suspect many of us have become over vigilant. Including me .

Forgetting names is quite normal especially if you know this person, know if they are married or have children or live round the corner. It is not normal to be able to remembr more than 5 or 6 numbers and but if someone asked you to met them on a certain date in two weeks time you would remember this. In the beginning of evolution numbers and names were not invented.
In my view too many medical programmes like to frighten people

Dementia website has a useful list of possible symptoms.

Similar to Crafting, KittyLester & Cornergran, I thought it wasn't things like losing the car keys that was the problem. Rather, it's not knowing that the car keys are lost that would be of concern.

I've always been rubbish at recognising people, let alone putting a name to them. It's not an age thing. I found out recently that there is a condition called face blindness, and though I might have a mild(ish) form, I now see that my dad was definitely a sufferer. He would stand by while my mum had a conversation with his aunt, then ask who she'd been talking to!

It is an interesting question; can someone developing dementia recognise/monitor their dementia? I guess most of us can be aware of forgetting things we have known easily in the past or routine behaviours. However, sometimes I think that as we get older, our minds are just so filled up with stuff that we don't really want to take on anything more – especially boring, superficial stuff. Having said that, dementia in any form is one of my greatest fears – less for me than for my family.

It would be useful if we could have a clear out ( of our minds) and have a minimalist look for a change.All the old clutter no longer needed,leaving room for sparkly new things.
Do I really need to store what my primary school uniform looked like and the name of my teachers and Headmaster?

If you’re worried then click on this link. Alzheimer’s Website they have excellent, specialist information.

I’ve never been good at remembering people’s names (even when I was a teacher) and I never knew the date. For a while I thought DH was developing dementia. Now I realise that due to ill health he is often just extremely tired and barely awake. So he never remembers what I have told him.

If you actually had dementia you probably would not realise there was a problem.

Don't forget there is such a thing as age related memory loss! Watching dementia progress I do believe that some will be able to recognise the changes - for some time. Eventually the destruction of cognitive abilities will mean you cannot see this. A lot of it will depend on the knowledge and culture you start with.

If you get to the point where you not only can't find your keys, but don't recognise them when you do, you are quite a long way down the dementia path. Most people cope pretty well in the early stages but may do inappropriate things. These are inappropriate to their normal behavior not to our view of appropriateness. If your relative has always given very odd Christmas presents then giving very odd Christmas presents is normal behavior for them. If they have always tried to find something appropriate and start to give 'confused' presents it is probably worth a check-up.

Eventually it is the loss of our cognitive powers rather than memory that is the biggest challenge. More importantly is the stage when people are not able to make a decision. When they cannot make a reasonable decision that, for instance, concerns their safety they can be assessed under the Mental Capacity Act and decisions made on their behalf - sometimes against what they express.

By comparison to this stage the 'memory loss' stage can be long and can be managed to have a pretty normal life.

Both my mother and a neighbour had dementia. One of the early signs in both of them was going out but getting lost and needing help to get home.
I remember my mother laughing about going to a nearby town and forgetting which bus to get back. She said that a lovely man had put her on the correct bus.
I found my neighbour talking to a stranger in our street. I thought something didn't look right so said hello to her. The stranger asked if I knew where my neighbour lived as she couldn't remember. I took her home and handed her over to her exhausted looking husband who didn't look able to cope. I interfered a bit, made a couple of phone calls and was able to find her daughter and say that I was concerned.

The only time I have been truly frightened was when I was standing in front of our burglar alarm panel and couldn’t remember what I was supposed to do! I had to go out and get DH from the car. Then I sat down and cried. He said it was because I was stressed and he was probably right. I presume that anyone with dementia would not even recognise the alarm panel. I remember my sister taking home an elderly lady she found wandering in the street, patently not dressed for being outdoors, who couldn’t remember where she lived or who she was. She had to call the police in the end and they had had someone report her missing, fortunately. At that particular time, no-one recognised dementia for what it was I don’t think. It upset my sister, but years down the line, sadly, her husband became afflicted with it too.

I think that if you know that you don't know then you are fine. When you don't know that you don't know then it is probably time to start worrying ................... but if you don't know then you will not be worried will you !!
(That is what I am hoping anyway as so far I know that I don't know)

I loved the film Still Alice and then bought the book, but reading it has made me much more aware of what the symptoms are like, and I sometimes think I might be going down the same route, but then, it could just be auto suggestion I suppose. In both the film and the book ( by Lisa Genova), Alice was well aware that she had Alzheimer's, until she was in the final stages of it. Makes me scared!

GG is right it is the decline in cognitive abilities, an inability to put two and two together, that indicates the onset of dementia. I often forget what day it is but a quick check of the calendar or computer puts me right, whereas DH has lost the ability to 'read' the calendar, operate the remote, etc. etc.

His consultant explained to us why the ability to 'make a cup of tea' is often used as a diagnostic test. There are apparently 40 steps involved in what seems such a simple task - starting with deciding to have tea as opposed to coffee, locating the cup, tea bags, milk, sugar, filling the kettle, switching it on, remembering your own 'recipe' and so on...... DH has recently lost the ability to do this successfully, (even at home where everything needed is kept together in the same corner) after some months of a hit and miss approach when he would bung a tea bag into my coffee, to 'be on the safe side'.

If you keep forgetting things e.g. names and addresses for the Christmas Cards but can use the phone book/an old list etc. to fill in the gaps then this is not dementia. If you cannot open a card without first locating your special letter opener, which is on the window sill beside you, or simply tearing it open then this is dementia. Bearing in mind that there are numerous types, which present differently and other conditions which cause confusion and memory loss too.

Thank you all for your comments. I do think that some articles make people worry unnecessarily. Anyone suffering from or caring for a loved one with this cruel disease has my utmost sympathy.

I help on courses for carers of people with dementia and I have noticed that I am much more aware of things in my own behaviour that could be a sign so I try not to panic!! My hand writing is appalling now and forgetting words makes me quite scared.

Decision making is a good first indicator and not being able to find the word for simple things rather than the names of people.

Some types of dementia can be slowed down by medication so early diagnosis is a good thing but it must be scary to be diagnosed with one that cannot be helped. Knowing the different types and the characteristics can be useful in other ways.

As someone said upthread, the Alzheimer's Society website has loads of information - unfortunately doctors are not very good at signposting.

If putting your car keys in the fridge can be a sign of dementia, what about leaving them in the freezer? I did that in my 40s, which was about 30 years ago