What are the symptoms of dementia?

What are the symptoms of dementia?

Gus Alva (Medical Director, ATP Clinical Research) gives expert video advice on: What causes dementia?; Who is most at risk for developing dementia?; How do I prevent myself from developing dementia? and more...

The symptoms of dementia not only include memory problems but also the abilities to do things on a day to day basis, what we call instrumental activities of daily living, and basic activities of daily living. So again here, things that would fall into place would be: managing money, hobbies, utilizing appliances around the house, or again, just engaging in our environment the way most of us would. Also, behavior. So, we typically talk about the ABC's: activities of daily living, behavior, cognition. And so in essence, this isn't just a problem with memory, it's a problem with the ability to do things, but also, behavioral issues. Typically, when we talk about behavior we talk about things like say, psychotic symptoms, like hallucinations or delusions, affective symptoms like depression or anxiety, sleep, appetite. Again, combative behaviors like irratibility, or hostility or abberant motor behaviors. And in essence, it's really a consolation of several different things.