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Dementia symptoms: What are the early signs of dementia?

Medically reviewed by Megan Huang, Pharm.D.
Licensed Pharmacist
Updated Oct. 27, 2023  •  Published Mar. 6, 2023
Fact Checked
Dementia symptoms

Overview: What does dementia look like?

Dementia is a progressive loss of mental abilities. It is not an illness but instead results from other illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease. It’s not a simple set of symptoms, and not everyone will have the same symptoms. The early symptoms of dementia will vary depending on the type of dementia, and most early warning signs of dementia aren’t easy to distinguish from other problems that are a normal part of aging. What does dementia look like? 

Dementia can affect nearly everything people do with their brains: memory, concentration, focus, planning, task completion, language, movement, emotions, sleep, and relationships with other people. As dementia progresses, people gradually lose the ability to do these things until, eventually, they can’t do them at all. However, the crucial factor in diagnosing dementia is losing the ability to do day-to-day functions like paying bills, driving, or cooking. No matter what the cause, loss of function is always a sign that medical attention is needed.

Key takeaways:

  • Dementia is a common health condition that mostly affects older adults but can affect anyone regardless of age, sex, race, or ethnicity. Find updated Alzheimer’s disease statistics here.

  • Early signs of dementia include forgetfulness, difficulty finding the right words, forgetting common facts, and difficulty understanding spoken or written language. 

  • Dementia is caused by Alzheimer’s disease, blood vessel problems in the brain (vascular dementia), Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, infectious proteins (Jakob-Creuzfeldt disease), HIV, brain injury, prescription drugs, and some degenerative brain diseases. When dementia has more than one cause, it’s called “mixed dementia.” You may be at risk for developing dementia symptoms if you are an older adult or have a family history of dementia. Other risk factors include heart or blood vessel disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, or excess weight in middle age. 

  • Dementia requires a medical diagnosis.

  • Dementia generally requires treatment. Dementia symptoms typically do not resolve but can in some cases be slowed with treatment.

  • Treatment of dementia may include cholinesterase inhibitors, memantine, antipsychotics, and therapies that don’t involve drugs. Read more about dementia treatments here.

  • Untreated dementia could result in complications like injuries, malnutrition, apathy, infections, depression, psychosis, and death.

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What are the early signs of dementia?

Dementia can affect several areas of brain function including thinking, remembering, language, mood, behavior, movement, and sleep. The early signs of dementia can affect any of these areas, but some types of dementia are characterized by their early symptoms. 

Dementia is primarily diagnosed by changes in day-to-day functioning. These are often the earliest warning signs:

  • Are important tasks like paying bills and taking medications being forgotten or done wrong?

  • Is driving more difficult?

  • Is one getting lost in familiar places?

  • Is it harder to do familiar tasks?

  • Are household chores not getting done or being forgotten? 

  • Are tasks with several steps harder to do?

  • Is planning, decision-making, and problem-solving getting harder to do?

  • Do you lose track of what day of the week it is?

  • Do you have trouble finding things that you just set down?

Early signs of cognitive decline due to dementia include:

  • Forgetfulness, particularly forgetting recent events

  • Not being able to find the right words when talking

  • Not remembering commonly-known facts

  • Difficulty understanding words and phrases

Early psychiatric symptoms of dementia include:

  • Listlessness

  • Depression

Early social and behavioral signs of dementia include:

  • Social withdrawal

  • Loss of inhibition

  • Poor judgment

Early movement symptoms of dementia can include:

  • Walking problems 

  • Falls

Moving about during REM sleep (rapid-eye movement behavior disorder or RBD) is also a possible early symptom. RBD looks like the sleeper is acting out a dream by twitching, punching, or kicking their legs.

For some types of dementia, behavior, and personality changes are the earliest warning signs.

What are the early signs of dementia?

Other dementia symptoms

Dementia can affect many mental abilities, but not everyone will experience the same problems. A diagnosis is made only when a person has symptoms that indicate that two of the following areas of brain function are declining: cognitive symptoms, psychiatric symptoms, behavioral symptoms, movement symptoms, and sleep problems

Cognitive symptoms of dementia from the earliest to the last include:

  • Short-term memory loss

  • Difficulty finding the right word

  • Not remembering the meaning of words

  • Working memory loss

  • Disorientation

  • Mispronouncing words or phrases

  • Speaking with fewer words

  • Loss of language

Psychiatric symptoms of dementia include:

  • Apathy

  • Depression

  • Lack of insight

  • Anxiety

  • Fearfulness

  • Mood swings

  • Paranoia

  • Delusions

  • Hallucinations

Behavioral symptoms of dementia include:

  • Withdrawal from people and social activities

  • Disinhibition

  • Bad judgment

  • Loss of empathy

  • Increased frustration

  • Aggressive behaviors

  • Explosive outbursts

  • Wandering

Motor symptoms of dementia include:

  • Walking irregularities

  • Falls

  • Meaningless and repetitive movements

  • Parkinson’s disease symptoms

  • Seizures

Sleep symptoms due to dementia include:

  • REM sleep behaviors

  • Changes in the sleep-wake cycle

Dementia vs. Alzheimer’s symptoms

Dementia is the progressive deterioration of two or more aspects of brain function. Alzheimer’s disease is one cause of dementia. So all the possible symptoms of dementia are the same as Alzheimer’s. However, dementia symptoms will depend on the type of dementia. These may vary from standard Alzheimer’s symptoms in a few ways. 

Dementia Alzheimer’s
Shared symptoms
  • Memory loss
  • Decline in thinking skills
  • Decline in language skills
  • Behavior and personality changes
  • Movement changes
  • Sleep disorders
  • Decline in day-to-day functioning
Unique symptoms
  • Early symptoms can be in any area of brain function depending on the cause
  • Onset of symptoms can be fast or slow depending on the cause
  • Deterioration can be fast or slow depending on the cause
  • REM sleep behaviors are a good indicator that the cause is something other than Alzheimer’s
  • Early symptoms are usually changes in memory and thinking
  • Gradual onset of symptoms
  • Gradual degeneration of brain function
  • REM sleep behaviors are possible but not definitive 

Stages of dementia: How can I tell which one I have?

Dementia is a progressive disease, so cognitive and behavioral problems will worsen. Dementia stages are often differentiated by the cause. Alzheimer’s disease, which causes 70% of dementia cases, has five stages. Vascular dementia, the second most common cause of dementia, is often grouped into seven stages. Practically speaking, it’s more useful to think of dementia as progressing through three stages: early (mild dementia), middle (moderate dementia), and late (severe dementia). These stages are not characterized by the symptoms but by how severely dementia affects daily life. These stages can help healthcare professionals choose appropriate drug treatments and dementia care. For the rest of us, it’s more useful to focus on the person as they are. Dementia care of a loved one or family member will depend on both their disabilities and abilities.

When to see a doctor for dementia symptoms

See a doctor if any symptoms of dementia are noticed, especially if forgetfulness or mental fogginess is affecting daily functioning. The symptoms could be due to a treatable cause like medication side effects.

A healthcare provider will take a thorough medical history, perform a physical examination, and talk to family members, friends, or caregivers, if possible. The healthcare provider will use tests to determine the level of cognitive impairment and behavioral problems. Brain scans may be used to look for a possible cause, such as amyloid plaques or blood vessel problems. Blood tests and spinal fluid tests may be used to test for proteins associated with illnesses that cause dementia.

RELATED: Delirium vs dementia: Compare causes, symptoms, treatments, & more

Complications of dementia

Dementia is a progressive condition. With or without treatment, the complications of dementia include:

  • Depression

  • Infections

  • Poor nutrition

  • Injuries and fractures

  • Psychosis

  • Incontinence

  • Death

How to treat dementia symptoms

Dementia may or may not be treatable. It depends on the cause. 

For dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease, symptoms can be improved and the progress of dementia slowed through certain medications including cholinesterase inhibitors, memantine, and a new drug, Aduhelm (aducanumab). Cholinesterase inhibitors can also help improve symptoms in people with dementia due to Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Antipsychotic medications are sometimes used in people with Alzheimer’s or frontotemporal dementia to help control behavior problems.

Other dementia treatments might include antidepressants, benzodiazepines, mood stabilizers, omega-3 fatty acids, music therapy, cognitive stimulation, exercise, aromatherapy, and ginkgo biloba. There is no evidence these treatments help improve symptoms or slow the progress of dementia. 

RELATED: Alzheimer’s and dementia medication management

Living with dementia

Dementia is a progressive disease. Problems with memory, language, thinking, socializing, behavior, and mood will steadily worsen over time. At a certain point, patients with dementia will require part-time or full-time dementia care. However, in the early stages, people can manage themselves independently if they take certain precautions:

  • Identify community and nonprofit resources that can provide services or support

  • Enlist the help of family and friends

  • Safety-proof the home 

  • Get a medical ID bracelet 

  • Get an emergency call button or device

  • Have friends or family members drive for you

  • Automate all bill payments

  • Have food and other supplies delivered through an app or other service

  • Plan for future part-time or full-time care with a family member, friend, or advisor

Most importantly, see a healthcare provider

If you’re noticing problems with remembering, thinking, behavior, or normal daily functioning, see a primary care doctor. These problems may be due to a treatable cause. They may be just a normal part of aging. Only a doctor can definitively determine if there’s cognitive decline, what’s causing it, and what to do about it. 

FAQs about dementia symptoms

What are the symptoms of early-onset dementia?

Early-onset dementia may be due to several causes including vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease, or frontotemporal dementia, the most common cause of early-onset dementia. Alzheimer’s is what most people associate with dementia, but early-onset Alzheimer’s is rare. Typically, the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s are memory problems. Vascular dementia can have any one of many common symptoms of dementia depending on what area of the brain is affected. Frontotemporal dementia is focused in the front part of the brain, so the earliest symptoms are behavior and personality changes.

At what stage of dementia is sundowning a symptom?

Sundowning happens when dementia symptoms worsen when daylight fades. As it gets darker, patients might be more irritable, afraid, confused, or aggressive. Sundowning can happen at any stage of dementia but is more common in the later stages.

At what stage of dementia is anger a symptom?

Irritability and frustration can happen at any stage of dementia but becomes more persistent and explosive in later stages.

What’s next? Additional resources for people with dementia symptoms

Test and diagnostics

Treatments

Scientific studies and clinical trials

Lea este artículo en español aquí.

Medically reviewed by Megan Huang, Pharm.D.
Licensed Pharmacist

Megan Huang, Pharm.D., graduated in 2019 from St. John's University. She brings over five years of experience from the retail pharmacy setting, where she worked throughout college. Since then, she has practiced in both long-term care and compounding pharmacy. As a professional, she strives to consistently provide high-quality yet easily digestible information to readers. A strong believer in positive thinking and lifelong learning, Megan enjoys being outdoors, reading novels, and meeting new people in her spare time. She currently resides in Northern New Jersey, where she works as a staff pharmacist in an independent pharmacy.

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