10 Surprising Early Signs of Dementia

You may or may not appreciate a sarcastic sense of humor, but sarcasmisa part of our culture. "We see it as a nice way to be critical and so we use it constantly, even when we are trying to be nice," says Dr. Rankin, whose research found that people with bothfrontotemporaldementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease tend to have a harder time picking up on sarcasm.

Another unusual sign of dementia Rankin noticed? People with FTD couldn't tell when someone was lying, althoughpeople with Alzheimer's diseasecould tell. "FTD patients don't have that sense anymore that things that people do could turn out badly," she says.

Constantly tripping over your own two feet? Everyone falls now and again — but frequent falling could be anearly signal of Alzheimer’s disease, according to research. Astudy published in July 2013 in the journalNeurologyfound that presumptive preclinical Alzheimer’s disease is a risk factor for falls in older adults. “People will come into our office concerned because they forgot what was on their grocery list last week, but when their spouse says they’ve fallen four times in the past year, that’s a sign of a problem,” says Rankin. Frequent falls may also be a symptom of other brain disorders, includingprogressive supranuclear palsy.

Somepeople with dementialose their sense of social norms. Shoplifting; breaking into someone’s house; inappropriate interpersonal behaviors, such as sexual comments or actions; and even criminal behavior, according to astudy published in March 2015 in the journalJAMA Neurology, all make the list of surprising dementia symptoms. This could lead to trouble with the law, too:Early-onset dementiacan hit people as early as their thirties and forties, well before anyone around them would consider their out-of-character behavior as a sign of dementia.

“Reduced gaze” is the clinical term for the dementia symptom that alters people’s ability to move their eyes normally. “We all move our eyes and track with them frequently,” says Rankin. But people showingearly signs of dementialook like they’re staring a lot. Rankin adds that, “they try to read and they skip lines.” This is one of the signs of dementia that the patient might not completely be aware of, although people around them probably will be.

One surprising early sign of dementia is eating nonfood objects or foods that are rancid or spoiled. This is partly because the person forgets what to do with the things in front of them. For example, dementia patients might try to eat the flower in a vase on a restaurant table because they “know they are there to eat, but don’t know what the flower is doing there,” says Rankin. Unlike some otherAlzheimer’ssymptoms or dementia symptoms, this one has few other likely explanations.

Now and again, most people find themselves desperately searching for the right word. In fact, failing to find the word you are thinking of is surprisingly common and not necessarily a sign of dementia, says Rankin. But losing knowledge of objects — not just what they are called, but also what they are used for — is an early dementia symptom. Oddly enough, people who are losing this knowledge can be very competent in other areas of their lives.

If someone who is usually sweet, considerate, and polite starts to say insulting or inappropriate things — and shows no awareness of their inappropriateness or concern or regret about what they’ve said — they could be exhibiting an early sign ofdementia. In the early stages of sometypes of dementia, symptoms can include losing the ability to read social cues and, therefore, the ability to understand why it’s not acceptable to say hurtful things.

One sign ofdementiathat most people don’t expect is the need to complete extreme rituals or compulsive behaviors. “Plenty of people have odd habits and like things done a certain way,” says Rankin. But while these habits are within the realm of normal, extreme hoarding or detailed rituals or compulsions, such as buying a crossword puzzle book every time they go to the store even if they have hundreds of them, can be dementia symptoms.

One of the classic early signs of Alzheimer’s disease is an increasing difficulty with money management. This might start off as having trouble balancing a checkbook or keeping up with expenses or bills, but as the disease progresses, poor financial decisions are often made across the board. Though many people brush this symptom off as just “a normal part of aging,” they shouldn’t. “We tend to associate aging with losing your mind. That’s nothealthy aging— it’s a disease,” emphasizes Rankin.

When people who used to be fluent and could speak smoothly stop being able to produce language that way, this may be a sign of dementia, says Rankin. Despite this symptom, patients are often crystal clear in other areas. They can run a business, manage their family, or draw beautifully, but they have increased difficulty actually forming the words to speak.