Understanding The Dementia Journey: The First Stage

Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are progressive conditions that affect a person's memory, thinking, and behavior. Dementia is a complex illness with various stages and can manifest differently in individuals.

Understanding the earliest stage of dementia is vital to prevention, caring for a loved one who’s been diagnosed, finding resources, and maintaining brain and cognitive health.

Navigating the First Stage of Dementia

It’s rare, with the increase of Alzheimer's, dementia, and related cognitive functions, that we don’t know someone whose life has been impacted by dementia.

This disease will inevitably impact most people’s lives, whether it’s a parent, grandparent, friend, or colleague whose parent has been diagnosed.

Caring for a loved one who’s newly diagnosed with dementia is disruptive to your relationship and challenging for everyone involved.

It’s common for family members to feel helpless, frustrated, angry, and discouraged. If you’re caring for a loved one who has been recently diagnosed with dementia, you probably have a lot of questions and concerns.

In addition, Depression can be common in dementia for individuals with dementia and their caregivers. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, depression is typical in 40% of people with Alzheimer's disease or related dementias.

Depression should be taken seriously. It’s imperative to seek treatment and support from professional support groups, a counselor, a spiritual advisor, practicing self-care, or talking with other dementia caregivers.

The weight of living with someone who has dementia is daunting and can take an emotional and physical toll—making it critical for caregivers and decision-makers to take care of themselves.

Stage one of dementia is all about keeping well, prevention, and finding out someone you love has been diagnosed with dementia.

Keeping Well and Reducing Your Risk of Dementia

Several sciences and studies have been conducted on ways to sharpen our memories and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Maintaining cognitive health is as important as maintaining heart health!

It’s crucial to make good choices for your brain to ensure current and future well-being. We should all pay attention to our cognitive health and take steps to reduce our risk of cognitive challenges as we age.

Here are healthy lifestyle choices to improve brain and cognitive health:

• Staying Active: Aerobic exercise raises your heart rate and increases blood flow to the brain and body. Regular physical activity, such as aerobic exercise, walking, swimming, or running, is one of the most effective ways to maintain and protect cognitive health.
• Healthy Diet: Including more vegetables, leaner meats/proteins, less processed foods, and foods that are lower in fat can help reduce one's risk of cognitive decline.
• Managing Chronic Conditions: Controlling chronic conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease, can minimize your risk of dementia.
• Regular Cognitive Screenings: Speak with your physician about your brain and cognitive health and include cognitive screenings in your annual physical. If you have cognitive symptoms or memory issues at any age, it’s vital to have them evaluated by a physician.

Recognizing Early Warning Signs of Dementia          

Being aware, educating yourself self, and recognizing the early warning signs of dementia are crucial for a timely diagnosis and early treatment.

Although there is no cure for dementia, we are making progress every day. Cognitive screenings, evaluations, and new blood tests can provide early detection and indicators for Alzheimer's and other dementias.

Here are 10 early warning signs of Alzheimer’s and dementia:

1. Memory Loss: Forgetting recently learned information, important dates and, asking the   same questions over and over
2. Challenges in Planning or Solving Problems: Having difficulty concentrating or changes in the ability to work with numbers
3. Difficulty Performing Familiar Tasks: Struggling to perform routine tasks, such as cooking, bathing, getting dressed, or driving to a familiar location
4. Losing Track of Time or Place: Losing track of dates, seasons, or getting lost.
5. Mood and Personality Changes: Getting upset quickly, aggression, confusion, suspicion
6. New problems with Words in Speaking or Writing: Difficulty finding the right words to express thoughts, frequently losing your thoughts, or repeating yourself
7. Misplacing Things: Frequently losing items or putting them in unusual places
8. Difficulty understanding visual images: Vision changes causing difficulty with balance.
9. Poor judgment: Frequently making bad decisions
10. Social withdrawal: Missing work, withdrawing from hobbies, social activities, and family engagements

Wrap-up

Alzheimer’s and other dementias are complex diseases that can be difficult to comprehend and manage.

The key to understanding and managing the first stage of dementia is staying well, prevention, and getting a dementia diagnosis.

Make your brain and cognitive health a priority by following a healthy diet, staying active, and including cognitive screening in your annual exam.

Although dementia can be disheartening, having the right resources and support and making healthy lifestyle choices can help with preventing, lowering your risk, and caring for a loved one with dementia.