What are the lesser known symptoms of dementia?
When you think of dementia, you might think of memory loss. But dementia is more than just memory loss. Dementia can also affect personality, communication, and behaviour. It’s important to look out for these other signs, which I talk about in this article.
What are the different types dementia?
There are many different types of dementia. The most common type of dementia is caused by Alzheimer’s disease. Other common types are:
What are the signs and symptoms of dementia?
How dementia presents itself can depend on the type of dementia. It’s also possible that the symptoms can be a sign of something other than dementia. Below are some dementia symptoms to look out for.
- Problems with communication.
- Finding it hard to make decisions.
- Memory loss, especially forgetting recent events.
- Not recognising where you are and getting lost easily even in familiar places.
- Disorientation in time, for example not knowing what year it is.
- Struggling to complete familiar tasks such as dressing and housekeeping.
- Lack of insight.
Here are some changes in behaviour which may also be symptoms of dementia.
- Having delusions or hallucinations.
- Mood swings.
- Easily getting upset or argumentative.
- Depression and anxiety.
- Inappropriate behaviour.
- Unusual movement, such as pacing.
- Disturbed sleep.
- Repeating phrases or questions.
What are risk factors for dementia?
Some things can make it more likely to develop dementia. These include:
- age – the risk of dementia increases with age
- genetics – genes can have a role in dementia, for example in young-onset Alzheimer’s disease
- health conditions – such as high blood pressure, diabetes, hearing loss or Parkinson’s disease
- weight – obesity increases risk of dementia later in life
- physical activity – not doing enough exercise or any at all can increase risk of dementia
- smoking – risk of dementia greatly increases if you smoke
- alcohol – drinking too much alcohol can increase risk of dementia
Some of these risk factors can’t be controlled, such as age and genetics. But there are important lifestyle changes from mid-life onwards that can reduce your risk of dementia. For example, exercising, cutting down on or stopping smoking, and not drinking too much alcohol. And getting health conditions diagnosed earlier so that you can manage them effectively. Keeping your brain active by doing activities or socialising can also help.
How do symptoms help with getting dementia diagnosed?
Along with some tests to rule out other conditions, a doctor will ask about symptoms to see if they are a result of dementia. They’ll ask about how daily tasks have been affected ̶ for example, eating, bathing, and dressing. As dementia progresses, it affects a person’s ability to do these everyday tasks.
It can take many appointments, assessments and tests before a clear diagnosis for dementia can be made.
What conditions could be mistaken for dementia?
Dementia can be difficult to diagnose, and symptoms may be because of other conditions. So what you think is dementia might be something else. Your doctor will want to rule out other conditions. These include the following.
- Normal aged-related memory loss – memory can worsen with age, so you might be forgetful at times. But this type of memory loss doesn’t affect your ability to do normal tasks the way dementia can.
- Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) – problems with memory and thinking that are not bad enough to affect daily life. MCI means you're more likely to develop dementia, but it's not inevitable. It may improve or stay stable.
- Depression – often mistaken for dementia and may appear before dementia develops as depression is a risk factor for dementia.
- Delirium – confusion and problems with memory and understanding, but it's temporary and can be caused by other conditions, such as infections.
It’s important to see a doctor if you notice any symptoms, so they can check to see what’s causing them.
How do I talk to a loved one about dementia?
If you are worried that any symptoms you’ve seen in a loved one might be dementia, try to encourage them to see a GP or a specialist. But it might be hard for them to accept they might have dementia; they may be in denial or frightened.
Below are some tips that might help someone who is worried or in denial about diagnosis of dementia.
- Give them time to come to terms with their symptoms and listen to their worries.
- Explain that their symptoms might not be dementia, it could be something else. It’s better to see a GP to make sure.
- If they’re worried about how dementia will affect their life, help them to find solutions.
Also remember to look after yourself if you’re struggling to know what to do and are concerned that a loved one has dementia. You might find it help to speak to a GP, support groups or the organisations below.
Keeping them involved in things in day-to-day life as much as possible, so you know, small tasks that are manageable around the home, so that someone doesn't feel like they're useless now that they can't do anything.
So keeping them involved in day-to-day tasks, but reminiscence, you know, looking at things like old photograph albums, because it's really important for someone with dementia to feel like the things that they're remembering are correct.
So if you're reminiscing, those memories are usually crystal clear, you know real historical stuff, so getting things like the wedding album out, and even looking back at old holiday books, and brochures about places that you've been, and postcards you know, they're really important to look at historical things, because it makes somebody feel like their memory is really good because those ones are a really crystal clear. We did have some stop signs on the doors, to stop dad from going out. And we did have a special Sky remote that we used, that just remembered some of dad's favourite channels, because he liked watching TV a lot at home.
Are you aged over 65 and wondering about your health and wellbeing? Bupa's Mature Health assessment gives an insight into your current health, as well future health risks for conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer. We also offer a year of ongoing support, with nurses on hand all day every day with our Anytime HealthLine to help you meet your health goals.
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Sources Sources
- Dementia. NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries. cks.nice.org.uk, last revised October 2024
- Dementia symptoms. Alzheimer’s society. alzheimers.org.uk, accessed November 2024
- What is dementia? Alzheimer’s Research UK. alzheimersresearchuk.org, accessed November 2024
- Young onset dementia. Alzheimer’s Research UK. alzheimersresearchuk.org, updated March 2024
- Risk factors for dementia. Alzheimer’s Research UK. alzheimersresearchuk.org, accessed December 2024
- Dementia. MSD Manuals. msdmanuals.com, reviewed February 2023
- Understanding denial and lack of insight. Dementia UK. dementiauk.org, published October 2023
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