Health and wellbeing

Every person with dementia is different and is an individual with their own personality. Some of the ways in which dementia can affect people include:

• Memory loss: this particularly affects day-to-day memory, for example, forgetting what happened earlier in the day, not being able to recall the reason for being in a particular shop, being repetitive or forgetting addresses - some people remember things from a long time ago much more easily
• Communication problems: Including problems finding the right words for things, for example describing the function of an item instead of naming it, people might also struggle to follow a conversation
• Difficulties with thinking things through, planning and problems with carrying out everyday tasks such as handling money
• Confusion about time or place, not recognising or getting lost in familiar places or being unaware of the time or date
• Sight and vision problems: increased difficulty with reading and judging distances or mistaking shiny, patterned objects or reflections and unusual emotional behaviour or responses
• Becoming sad, angry, frightened or upset - someone may seem to lack self-confidence or display changes in mood
• Restlessness or disorientation In unfamiliar or noisy environments people with dementia may become confused or ill at ease