What are the first signs?

[OceanPlay]

I have read upon dementia but I am interested to hear real experiences. What were the first signs of demetia that you noticed with your relatives/friends. Thank you.

[CatCushion]

Confusion & getting lost in familiar places. Forgetting the name of familiar objects. Forgetting what they've just said or done.

[bigTillyMint]

My DM forgets the names of familiar objects and the right words. She had a stroke about 3 years ago which affected her word-finding, so I don't know if it is due to this or whether it could be dementia starting.

[CMOTDibbler]

For my mum it was personality change, and word finding. There are so many different types of dementia, that it can vary a lot

[youngatheart1]

My FIL seems lost, for example if I turn up without calling first he just stares and looks confused, I have noticed this more and more and when you ask him something again he looks blank, my MIL says it's dementia but I am not sure as he does not forget names etc and can have a good conversation, just another symptom I suspect.

[vitaminC]

With my grandad, the first sign was no longer understanding numbers!

He was an engineer and very intelligent, but he started having trouble writing cheques because he could no longer write the amount in figures!

Then he started forgetting people's names or confusing family members with each other...

[snice]

I have been worried about my DF recently as I suspect given his family history and age he will suffer this-I am starting to notice how he is completely thrown by any variation to routine to the extent that he will become very stressed and angry. There also seems to be quite a delay sometimes in processing info, using names etc

[bigTillyMint]

Just re-found this thread!

That's interesting snice - DM finds any change in routine very stressful. She gets frustrated when things are different to how she expects.

TBF, she has always been a bit like this, so it's hard to know how much it is just getting older or if it is the start of dementia.

She writes loads of things down to help her remember and has messed up a cheque by writing just my first name, but then I guess anyone could make that mistake!

Would a GP be able to identify what the difficulties are and whether it is dementia if I was to get her to go for an appointment?