20 Signs and Symptoms of Dementia

According to Grayson (2004) states that dementia is not a common disease, but rather a collection of symptoms that caused some particular disease or condition resulting in changes in personality and behavior.

Dementia can be defined as cognitive and memory disorders that can affect daily activities. Dementia patients often show some disturbances and changes in daily behavior (behavior symptoms) that interfere (disruptive) or do not disturb (non-disruptive) (Voicer. L., Hurley, AC, Mahoney, E.1998).

20 Signs and Symptoms of Dementia

1. Damage to the whole range of cognitive functions.
2. Initially short-term memory loss.
3. Personality and behavioral disorders (mood swings).
4. Focal neurological deficits.
5. Irritability, hostility, agitation and seizures.
6. Psychotic disorders: hallucinations, illusions, delusions, and paranoia.
7. Limitations in ADL (Activities of Daily Living)
8. Difficulty managing finances.
9. Can not go home when traveling.
10. Forgot to put important stuff.
11. Difficult bathing, eating, dressing and toileting.
12. Easy drop and poor balance.
13. Unable to eat and swallow.
14. Urinary incontinence.
15. Can run away from home and can not go home.
16. Decline in memory that continues to happen. In patients with dementia, "forgot" to be part of daily life that can not be separated.
17. Impaired orientation time and place, for example: forget the day, week, month, year, where people with dementia.
18. Decline and inability to formulate the correct words into sentences, using words that are not appropriate for a condition, repeat the same words or stories.
19. Overexpression, such as excessive crying at the sight of a television drama, furious at small errors committed by others, fear and nervousness are unwarranted. People with dementia often do not understand why these feelings arise.
20. The change of behavior, such as: indifferent, withdrawn and anxious.