Dementia- A fast approaching epidemic!

Mrs. Sharma, 68 year old, is a retired Professor of French from a renowned University. These days she is busy being an active grandmother .One day while driving back home after picking her grandkids from school she suddenly got confused with the directions and kept driving until the kids panicked and asked grandmother to stop the car. “Mom must be really stressed looking after the grand kids and perhaps need a break from it” , her daughter said. Few years later when she started confusing names of her children and husband, she was taken to a neurologist and was diagnosed with a moderate stage of Alzheimer’s Dementia. We often associate episodes of memory loss or confusions to be a part of ageing process which delays the diagnosis of Dementia. Forgetfulness is not a characteristic feature of ageing. Forgetting occurs due to many other reasons like misattribution, extreme stress, lack of attention etc. On the other hand when forgetting affects activities of daily living