Early Warning Signs

• Recent memory loss –  forgetting more often and not remembering later
• Difficulty performing familiar or routine tasks – meal preparation, doing laundry
• Problems with language – trouble finding the right word, forgetting simple words, substituting inappropriate words
• Disorientation of time and place – getting lost in your own neighborhood, not knowing how to get home or to familiar places
• Poor or decreased judgment – dressing inappropriately, layering clothing, disrobing in public, leaving stove burners on
• Problems with abstract thinking – balancing a checkbook, coming up with a reasonable plan to an everyday problem like a toilet that is overflowing
• Misplacing things –  putting things in inappropriate places and cannot remember where to find common items, putting frozen items in oven
• Changes in mood or behavior – rapid mood swings for no apparent reason
• Changes in personality –  becoming confused, suspicious, fearful and may think family members are stealing things
• Loss of initiative – becoming very passive and requiring cues and prompting to become involved

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