These 10 warning signs point to dementia

About 200,000 people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia each year. Alzheimer’s is responsible for about 60 percent of all dementia diseases. The disease is most common in people over the age of 65. Those affected are less able to cope with daily life. Once sick, the brain’s performance gradually declines. This is a great burden for relatives.

No matter how dire a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s may be for those affected: With the right treatment and care, a high quality of life is still possible. A total of 61 percent of those over the age of 70 are concerned about Alzheimer’s disease. This was the result of a representative survey conducted by the Allensbach Demoscopy Institute on behalf of the nonprofit Alzheimer’s Research Initiative eV (AFI).

These 10 symptoms indicate Alzheimer’s:

1. loss of memory
2. Challenge planning and problem solving
3. problems with usual activities
4. Spatial and temporal orientation problems
5. perception disorders
6. New speech and writing weakness
7. relocating objects
8. Limited Jurisdiction
9. Loss of initiative and withdrawal from social life
10. Personality changes, mood swings for no apparent reason

These symptoms indicate normal age-related changes:

1. Names or appointments are temporarily forgotten but remembered later
2. Distraction when many things are waiting at the same time
3. Needing occasional assistance to deal with difficult daily needs, such as programming television
4. Misunderstanding the day of the week now and then and remembering later
5. Change or decrease in vision, for example due to clouding of the lens
6. Sometimes not finding the right word
7. Putting things in the wrong place from time to time and then finding them again
8. Making a poorly thought out or bad decision
9. Feeling overwhelmed at times by the demands of work, family, or social commitments
10. Irritation when regulated daily processes are changed or interrupted

Basically, if you’re worried about your memory, you should always see a family doctor. Because only a medical examination can determine the cause of memory problems. Self-diagnosis is not possible. In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, treatment should be started as early as possible. Medications that can delay the course at the onset of the disease work best.