Dementia: These are the first symptoms of young onset dementia

Dementia is a degenerative disease that causes a progressive decline in people’s ability to think, reason, communicate and remember. Studies have revealed lesser-known symptom of this condition such as loss of appetite, as well as warning signs to look out for, and even foods that can prevent dementia. But even with all the medical information, there is a lot that we still don't know about dementia.

One of the chief misunderstanding around dementia is that it is a disease which solely surfaces in older people. But as per Dementia UK, this assumption is completely wrong. Here's what you should know about 'young onset' dementia.

Dementia among the young

'Young onset' dementia happens when the symptoms of the condition begins to show in people who are younger than 65 years of age. The usual age-range of these patients is between 30 to 65 years. 'Young onset' dementia is also called ‘early onset’ or ‘working age’ dementia.

Due to the wrong assumption of dementia being attributed only to older people, it can be very easy to miss symptoms of dementia in young onset cases.

There are differences in dementia experienced by the young versus the older patients. Early onset dementia is usually a rarer form of dementia, and it could be an inherited form of the condition. The disease also causes higher psychological and physical distress in early onset cases.

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Symptoms of young onset dementia

The early symptoms of young onset dementia need not be memory loss. As per Dementia UK, in younger people dementia most commonly affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, which causes changes in

• personality
• behaviour
• language
• social functioning
• relationships with others
• activities of everyday living
• motivation
• mood eg depression, anxiety
• concentration levels
• decision making and problem solving
• vision and spatial awareness

Accurate and timely diagnosis is very crucial in people being able to successfully manage their dementia. Hence, it is very important for family and friends of affected people to be vigilant about warning signs of dementia even in younger people.

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Sources used:

Dementia UK: ' What is young onset dementia?'