Forgetting: Is It Aging or Alzheimer's?

usnews.com
Planning to Retire
Emily Brandon
Everyone forgets their keys occasionally, gets lost sometimes, or just can't quite remember the name of someone they were introduced to in the past. Young people usually shrug off these temporary bouts of memory loss. But older people may wonder if it could be the beginning of mild cognitive impairment or even Alzheimer's disease. U.S. News asked William Uffner, medical director of the Friends Hospital Older Adult Program in Philadelphia, how to tell when memory loss is a normal sign of aging or something more serious. Excerpts:

How do you know what's normal (like forgetting your keys) and when things are growing more serious?
The brain is unable to recognize when something is wrong with it. People generally are not aware when they have crossed over from a mild memory problem into dementia. More often, it is going to be a family member or an associate or someone else who makes the realization that a person isn't appropriately functioning and managing their affairs anymore. The individual themselves is likely to call the bank and say the bank made a mistake. That's a sign of true cognitive decline.

What signs should family members be on the lookout for?
Most people over the age of 55 will tell you that their memory is not as good as it used to be. Everyone has had the experience of going up the stairs to their bedroom and thinking, "What did I come up here for?" As you age, you may begin to worry more about that. But this does not represent a problem. It's when a person has memory problems that are very severe [that] you need to worry, when they can't make use of information and turn that information into a useful course of actions. Also, when they start to show problems with their judgment and when they repeatedly make mistakes. It's OK to...read the whole post