An estimated five to eight percent of men and women over the age of 65 experience some problem with dementia, and an astonishing 25 to 50 percent of individuals over the age of 80 are faced with some form of dementia.
The best way to combat dementia from progressing rapidly and claiming more and more of the patient's memory, mind, and life is to identify the medical condition as early as possible.
Finding the symptoms of dementia early is the key for giving the patient the most hope for stopping or even reversing the disease.
The most common symptoms of dementia are those associated with memory.
Although it is not unusual for men and women to forget things or misplace things as they age, there is a fine line between regularly forgetfulness and dementia.
Usually dementia is more associated with the short term memory, so that patients are unable to keep appointments or recall conversations held a few minutes ago, but are able to remember events, names, dates, and other important information from their childhood or early adulthood.
This is especially true in the case of individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's , although as the disease continues to progress, the memory span is shortened further.
To determine the difference between regularly forgetfulness and dementia, make an appointment with a specialist in the field.
A specialist will be able to run special diagnosing tests on the patient to determine if the mind is experiencing signs of dementia.
Another common sign of dementia and Alzheimer's is the loss of ability to do common things, including locking doors, cooking, driving, or reading.
Also, a patient may not be able to follow favorite television shows or movies, since he or she may forget the plot or the characters.
A common method of diagnosing memory problems is a sudden showing of inappropriate, irritable, or hostile behavior.
