Everyone experiences dementia differently and different types of dementia can also affect people differently. Symptoms might include:
- Decline in memory i.e. difficulty recalling things that happened recently (short term memory) /difficulty remembering events from the past (long term memory).
- Difficulties with attention and concentration.
- Language difficulties e.g. finding it difficult to understand what others say, difficulty finding the right word, finding it difficult to express in words.
- Difficulty in recognising familiar faces, places and things.
- Decline in activities of daily living e.g. personal hygiene, cooking, cleaning, shopping, handling money, driving.
- Getting lost on what are familiar routes.
- Decline in judgement, planning and decision making.
- Changes in sleeping and eating habits.
- Behavioural symptoms e.g. being more irritable than usual, becoming aggressive, wandering, sexual disinhibition.
- Psychological symptoms i.e. low mood, anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations.
There are different types of dementia including Alzheimer’s, Vascular, Frontotemporal, Parkinson’s disease, Lewy Body, Mixed.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type, followed by Vascular Dementia. Mixed dementia is a combination of any other type with Alzheimer’s disease.
There is more information about the different types of dementia on the Alzheimer’s Society’s webpage www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/types-dementia