Alzheimer's Disease Symptom Checklist

These are the most common changes seen in people who have Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. A person with Alzheimer’s disease may:

• Be more easily distracted than usual.
• Find it difficult to “stay on task”.
• Ask the same questions over and over.
• Have problems making or keeping important appointments.
• Not remember recent conversations.
• Forget why he or she went into a room.
• Forget where things are in the kitchen.
• Have trouble recalling names of longtime acquaintances.
• Have trouble coming up with the right words in conversation.
• Have stopped reading.
• Mispronounce or use wrong words.
• Have deteriorating handwriting.
• Have difficulty driving.
• Become confused or disoriented in stores or malls.
• Have trouble finding the car in the parking lot.
• Get lost easily even on familiar routes.
• Show personality changes.
• Say or do embarrassing or inappropriate things in social situations.
• Have difficulties with hygiene / bathroom use.
• Have new problems at work or start to receive negative work evaluations.
• Have difficulties using household items.
• Have trouble dressing (two socks on one foot, puts shirt on backwards).
• Complain or show signs of blurred vision.
• Grope for door handles.
• Feel more down or depressed than before.
• Cry more often.
• Have a change in appetite or sleep patterns.

These symptoms do not necessarily mean your parent or loved one has Dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, but they do warrant a discussion with your family member and his/her doctor.