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Dementias

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms may include:

  • loss of memory, inability to concentrate and poor sense of time and place
  • difficulty in finding the right words, or understanding what people are saying
  • difficulty in completing simple tasks and solving minor problems
  • mood changes and emotional upsets, sometimes with depression

Often people forget what they meant to do, lose their way in places they know and become confused when using a telephone or working out change. Some people change their eating habits, get dressed in the middle of the night or wander off.

Early in the disease the affected person, their friends and family can help by writing things down and using reminders. Later people often lose the skills they need for everyday life, and may fail to recognise family members. Eventually the brain ceases to direct activities and they become dependent on others. People may become bed-bound and unable to resist infection. The most common cause of death is pneumonia.

View Background Background  |  What are the causes? View What are the causes?

Medical text written November 2004 by the Alzheimer's Society. Approved November 2004 by Professor C Ballard, Director of Research, Alzheimer's Society, London, UK.

 

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