What’s going on here? Joe does­n’t even know and it’s real­ly uncomfortable…

Demen­tia describes a group of symp­toms affect­ing mem­o­ry, think­ing and social abil­i­ties severe­ly enough to inter­fere with your dai­ly life. It isn’t a spe­cif­ic dis­ease, but sev­er­al dif­fer­ent dis­eases may cause dementia.

Though demen­tia gen­er­al­ly involves mem­o­ry loss, mem­o­ry loss has dif­fer­ent caus­es. Hav­ing mem­o­ry loss alone does­n’t mean you have dementia.

Alzheimer’s dis­ease is the most com­mon cause of a pro­gres­sive demen­tia in old­er adults, but there are a num­ber of caus­es of demen­tia. Depend­ing on the cause, some demen­tia symp­toms may be reversible.

Cog­ni­tive changes
Mem­o­ry loss, which is usu­al­ly noticed by a spouse or some­one else
Dif­fi­cul­ty com­mu­ni­cat­ing or find­ing words
Dif­fi­cul­ty with visu­al and spa­tial abil­i­ties, such as get­ting lost while driving
Dif­fi­cul­ty rea­son­ing or problem-solving
Dif­fi­cul­ty han­dling com­plex tasks
Dif­fi­cul­ty with plan­ning and organizing
Dif­fi­cul­ty with coor­di­na­tion and motor functions
Con­fu­sion and disorientation