The holidays are a time for family gatherings, and some Missourians might notice changes in a loved ones’ memory that warrants further exploring. Lauren Livingston, spokeswoman for the Alzheimer’s Association, said there are often clear signs a person may be developing one of the most common forms of dementia.
“The main one is memory loss that disrupts their daily life,” Livingston said. “Forgetting things they have known their whole life, like how to use the microwave or how to get home from the grocery store, things like that that would be very unusual for someone to forget.”
Livingston said that many will show similar symptoms of a failing memory.
“Challenges in solving problems like simple math problems, figuring out the tip on a bill, things like that,” Livingston said, “or difficulty just completing daily tasks like they would do normally, like getting dressed or taking a shower, having confusion with things they are normally familiar with.”
Livingston said a key indicator of knowing if a loved one’s memory loss is a real problem would be seeing these signs over and over or if they’re forgetting the same thing that you shared multiple times.
“Seeing that pattern of forgetting things, and things that they have done their whole lives, or they’ve known their whole lives and they’re forgetting,” she said.
Other signs to watch for are losing items and finding them in odd locations, not recognizing everyday items, and social withdrawal.
Missouri has about 120,000 people living with Alzheimer’s Disease.
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