If you are (or a loved one is) experiencing cognitive problems that are interfering with normal life, see a doctor to be evaluated for dementia. The earlier that treatment is started, the more effective it is as preventing or forestalling further cognitive declines. Examples of some problems encountered in early dementia include:

• Difficulty recalling most newly-learned information, especially recent events or simple directions, or continually forgetting names, dates, and other critical information.
• Finding it hard to complete common tasks.
• Having difficulty with language such as speaking using strange substitute words in place of those that cannot be remembered.
• Becoming disorientated in time and space.
• Having difficulty with activities that require planning, decision making, and judgment.
• Having unusual difficulty performing complex mental tasks that require abstraction such as telling time from an analog clock.
• Constantly misplacing things.
• Displaying changes in personality or mood.
• Overall loss of initiative.