He isn’t remembering well. Does He Have a Dementia?
How often has a loved one forgotten something and, for a split second, you said to yourself, “Why didn’t he remember that? What does this mean? Should I be concerned?” Here are guidelines to help you.
The car keys are missing. Is he losing his memory?!
- We all put our house keys down and forget where we put them.
- We forget a name even though we know the person.
- We go to the supermarket for eggs and come home with coffee, bread . . . but no eggs.
Are these signs of dementia?
Everyone forgets from time to time. As we get older, we forget more often.
However, it is not a sign of dementia if we can remember the keys, name and eggs after a little while and our forgetting doesn’t stop us from carrying out our normal activities.
Some forgetting is normal. Taking a little longer to remember as we get older is also normal.
Memory changes that interfere with independent activities – our work, social life, conversations, reading and learning – may indicate a health problem that should be checked by a doctor.
These memory changes may include
- Not being able to find the right words to express something, not following a conversation, or having difficult completing a thought
- Forgetting names of people and places
- Being confused about where one is, not knowing how to get to a familiar location, or not being able to retrace one’s steps
- Having difficulty recalling the information needed to make appropriate judgements and decisions
- Not recalling where an item has been placed even with time and effort
HelpGuide.org offers a quick look at how to figure out what forgetting the car keys might indicate at What Does My Forgetting Mean?
The Age Coach - Cheryl Greenberg, Ed.D. 