Dementia is the reduction of cognitive functioning, such as remembering, thinking, and reasoning, along with the loss of behavioral abilities to such an extent that it interferes with a person’s daily life and activities. In the beginning stages, dementia can often look like normal cognitive losses that occur in many elderly people, such as memory problems,

forgetfulness and slight confusion. Many caregivers won’t notice the problem until someone else points them out like a visiting family member who hasn’t seen the parent in a long time (and thus notices a big difference) or on the opposite spectrum, a senior care provider who can attest that certain behaviors are happening more often and possibly interfering with your parent’s quality of life.

While occasional instances of the following behaviors do not necessarily guarantee that your parent is heading down the road to a dementia diagnosis, if you or your senior care provider are seeing the behaviors repetitively or are witnessing them affect how your parent is able to manage her independence, it may be time to bring her in for an exam from her doctor to help you diagnose and manage the symptoms.

Here are the five areas most affected by dementia:

1. Memory
   At the beginning, you might start to notice changes in your parent’s ability to remember short-term events. She’ll be consistently forgetting where she put her cup of coffee or perhaps if she’s even poured her cup of coffee. You might find several full cups in various spots around the home. Her long-term memory will still be great, but she’ll be at the point where she’s experiencing frustration in her lack of ability to remember what she was just doing 10 minutes ago.
2. Language
   Another area that gets affected in the beginning stages of dementia is language. Words that easily came to your parent’s mind now elude her as she tries to complete a sentence. She may find words are on the “tip of her tongue” more often than they used to be.
3. Communication
   While language is a part of communication, it’s not only language that begins to suffer. Your aging parent may have a hard time following a conversation. When people such as her senior care provider try to engage her in a conversation, your parent may resist or simply walk away from a conversation. You might also find she is asking the same questions or making the same statements repeatedly. It might not be that she doesn’t remember the question, it could be that she doesn’t remember the answer, or it may be the only way she can now figure out how to stay in the conversation.
4. Focus
   As your aging parent deals with forgetfulness, she might also find it greatly affects her focus. She may not be able to follow a simple recipe anymore. Or if you give her instructions that have multiple steps, you might notice she often misses one or two along the way.
5. Reasoning
   Personality changes also often come with dementia, making reasoning more difficult. Your parent may get depressed or easily agitated. You’ll find it’s harder and harder to reason with her and the things she’s battling you with may seem nonsensical.

If you are noticing a consistent decline in your parent’s cognitive functioning, now is the time to bring her and have her evaluated so you can continue to help her live independently for as long as she can.

If you or an aging loved-one is considering Senior Care in Los Angeles, CA please contact the caring staff at Nu Care Inc. today at. 800-505-6890