Expert: Mary Gordon - 11/30/2009

Question
how do people know if they have alzhemirs


Answer
Hi Tamia,

Warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease and some dementias include:

1. Memory loss that affects job skills. Frequent forgetfulness or confusion at home or work may mean something is wrong.
2. Difficulty performing familiar tasks such as preparing a meal but forgetting to serve it.
3. Language problems. A person with Alzheimer’s may forget simple words or substitute inappropriate words, making sentences hard to understand.
4. Time and place disorientation. Alzheimer’s can cause people to become lost and unable to get back home.
5. Poor or decreased judgment such as not bringing a long a sweater or coat on a chilly night or dressing inappropriately.
6. Problems with abstract thinking, recognizing numbers and performing basic calculations.
7. Misplacing things or putting them in odd places like a wallet in the freezer.
8. Mood swings or changes in behaviour.
9. Personality changes.
10. Loss of drive or i initiative, leaving a person to feel uninvolved or uninterested in usual pursuits.

Sometimes the person who is showing the symptoms is unaware of what is happening to them. They won't notice that they are having problems at all. This can be because their brain is being damaged by the disease so they have no self insight - it isn't that they don't want to understand, it is more that they can't because their perceptions are as damaged as their memories. They cannot see their own problems, or use logic to figure out something must be wrong with them - even when this is very obvious to everyone around them. Sometimes they will come up with strange ideas that make sense to them but not to anyone else to try to explain what is happening to them - for example, if they keep losing things, rather than suspect their memory is slipping,  they will decide someone is playing tricks on them, or that their loved ones are stealing their things.

If you suspect someone you love is developing Alzheimer's, they have to see a doctor - this is not something that anyone can diagnose on their own. There are many diseases that can affect the brain and cause memory and other cognitive problems. The doctor will have to do a full evaluation to make sure there isn't some other illness or problem affecting the brain. Alzheimer's is only diagnosed after ruling out all kinds of things, and it requires a specialist.

Here is more information on diagnosis http://alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=260

Hope this helps