10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s

1. Memory loss that affects day-to-day function, especially things that have happened more recently.
2. Difficulty performing familiar tasks such as preparing a meal.
3. May forget simple words or substitute words, making sentences difficult to understand.
4. Disorientation of time and place such as forgetting how to get home.
5. Poor or decreased judgment such as not recognizing a medical problem that needs attention or wearing heavy clothing on a hot day.
6. Problems with abstract thinking such as not recognizing what the numbers in a chequebook mean.
7. Putting things in inappropriate places such as an iron in the freezer or a wristwatch in the sugar bowl.
8. Having varied mood swings — from calm, to tears, to anger — for no apparent reason.
9. Becoming uncharacteristically confused, suspicious or withdrawn. Changes may also include apathy, fearfulness or acting out of character.
10. May become very passive, and require cues and prompting to become involved.

Source: Alzheimer Society of Canada