Dementia can be life-changing for the patient and their loved ones. Dementia doesn’t just impact the mind, it impacts everyone who comes in contact with the person diagnosed. Dementia can cause memory problems and increased confusion, however, understanding the early warning signs of dementia and diagnosing it early can help a patient benefit from drug and non-drug treatments and explain the changes to friends and family.

Read on for the early warning signs of dementia:

1 . Memory loss
The most well-known symptom of dementia is memory loss. Patients diagnosed with dementia often have trouble remembering details. It doesn’t matter if the details are small or large, it can be hard for them to recall names, dates, or events in the far or recent past. This symptom doesn’t happen quickly; instead memory will gradually worsen over time the worse their memories become.

2. Problem solving difficulties
Another early warning sign of dementia is problem solving difficulties. Basic problems like decision making may become much harder and more difficult for people with dementia. This is because they may have difficulty comprehending objectives and understand how to figure them out. Eventually, these problem solving difficulties begin to impact their everyday lives, they may react in anger or frustration.

3. Confusion about time and place
People with dementia often get confused about where they are, and date and time. This is a common form of short term storage loss. However, since people with dementia struggle with their memory in both the short term and long term, both time and place can be difficult and they may forget important dates (i.e., birthdays) or get lost on route to places they’ve been many times before.

4. Challenges understanding visual information
Visual information is one of the lesser known symptoms of dementia. Many people with the disease may not understand information right in front of their eyes. It correlates with problem-solving difficulties except its specifically linked to visual problems (i.e., opening a jar).

5. Speech issues
Another well-known symptom of dementia is speech issues. This may occur in moments of forgetting certain words or it may make communication very difficult if they have trouble forming sentences or holding conversations.

6. Misplacing personal items
Losing or misplacing personal items is common for someone with dementia. Since this person’s memory has been affected by the disease, it’s very common for them to forget where they put personal belongings (i.e., keys or momentos). They might lose an item for days or even weeks before they figure out where they put it, and they may become paranoid that someone has stolen their belongings.