Dementia can affect many people who are in their 30′s, 40′s and 50′s. This is known as early onset dementia. There is no single one type of person that can develop early onset dementia. It can affect anybody from teachers, manual workers, to professionals and scientists and since little is known about who is affected and why, it is important to recognise early symptoms of early onset dementia to get the best medical and care support that is available.
Alzheimer’s disease amongst the young to middle aged people is not something the medical professionals such as doctors and GP’s would usually look for, memory loss and confusion are often associated with other issues such as stress and anxiaty problems, so recognising early onset dementia can and often is, mistaken for other health issues. So getting a correct diagnosis of early onset dementia among younger people is often missed or mis-diagnosed for other medical problems.
So what should you do if you suspect yourself or somebody you know is showing the signs of early onset dementia. The first thing to do is not to panic, in many cases memory loss and confusion are associated with many other factors that can affect the mind such as prescribed drugs or stress. We have an article on the causes of memory loss here if you would like to know more on the reasons why we might lose our memory. If you still suspect that you or somebody is showing signs of dementia then it important to have yourself or suggest that the person goes to see a doctor. You should try to keep a record, in writing if possible, of your or somebody’s else’s behaviors, symptoms and forgetfulness beforehand, this allows you to show your concerns to a GP on how long and how the behavior is affecting the person. As yet, there is no one single diagnosis for Alzheimer’s disease, so a doctor may refer you to a doctor who specialises on Alzheiemer’s who may have better recognition of the disease amongst younger people. You or the person that you are concerned about will probably have to have further tests carried out to help evaluate whether the person has early onset Alzhimers.
If you are diagnosed with early onset dementia there is plenty of support available in your community. There are many groups that deal with alzheimer’s condition with many specializing with early onset dementia.
Hello dementia.co.uk, my grandma has early onset dementia and this site has a lot of helpful information to look at. I like the idea of visiting a dementia cafe. Your site helped me with finding the symptoms of dementia and what to look for. Thanks Stephanie