What if a family member has signs of dementia?
If your family member has some of the signs of dementia it is important to see a physician soon. You may want to go along and talk with the doctor before your relative sees him or her. Then you can tell the doctor about the way your relative is acting without embarrassing your relative. As the disease progresses, patients lose the ability to function independently and become increasingly disoriented to time and place. Wandering may become a significant problem. Patients become unable to care for themselves and grooming and dressing standards deteriorate rapidly. Patients often dress inappropriately for the season and confuse underwear with outer garments. In the progressive dementias, recent memory, retention and attention span deteriorate steadily. Language skills, particularly ability to name objects (anomia) or generate a word list decline until a patient can no longer use full sentences. Dementia may also change a person’s mood and personality. At first, memory loss and trouble thi
