 Hello everybody, I am Dr. Savrap Sadekar, Consultant Neurologist, Manipal Hospital, Jaya Nagar Bangalore. I am very happy to be a part of this dementia informative session initiated by our hospital. The word dementia, it means certain few things to the common non-medical person. It means forgetting things very easily, not able to remember day to day things. And it means that it is a disease that comes only after the age of 70 years. So what we would like to stress in this talk is what are the exact symptoms of dementia, how to recognize that one of our family members might be developing dementia, when to make an early visit to a neurologist because that will facilitate an early treatment initiation as well as it will stop the progression of dementia. And one very important thing that dementia can happen earlier than that traditional age group of 70 to 80 years. So what are the exact symptoms of dementia? Forgetting is definitely one of the symptoms of dementia but this forgetting comes initially in episodes. Patient will forget whether he had breakfast or not or maybe he'll forget whether he has taken his tablet or not. He'll forget some of the routine things that he is to do in his day to day activities and some common things like forgetting his way back home or forgetting the way to the regular places that he is to visit every day. The second stage of dementia, medically it is known as executive dysfunction which simply means mixing up things or doing things in a wrong order. For example, if it is a female patient it will be like adding less spices to the food or suddenly preparing less quantity of food or mixing up salt instead of sugar. Further as the disease advances the problem arises in communication. This communication problem can be in the form of speaking less, interacting less or speaking in an uninterested tone or it can be in the form of missing some words in a sentence or forgetting certain words in a sentence or taking a long time to complete a sentence but however most of the responses of the patient will be accurate. Anywhere during the course in the disease, feeling of getting lost very easily or getting confused regarding which room he or she is in or not knowing the way out after coming into a new place are some of the other common symptoms of dementia. These symptoms are common in the patient who develops dementia in the traditional age group of 65 or 70 plus but those patients who develop dementia at an early age, relatively at the age of 60 or 60 plus age group their symptoms differ slightly. These differences are in the form of communication issues and in the form of jumbling or mixing things up which earlier we spoke about executive dysfunction and the forgetfulness in such patients is quite minimal. It will be minimal like forgetting names of people, objects or certain common things which are used in day to day activities. So any of these symptoms present in a person who is in the 60 plus of age group this should alert his family members that this could be the starting of dementia in him. It asserts the need to take him to a neurologist immediately for consultation. The neurologist would then do a detailed physical examination as well as investigations like MRI CT scans that is the brain scans. This would help to initiate an early treatment and confirm a diagnosis of dementia in such a patient. Early starting of treatment in a dementia patient helps to restore the levels of acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is a neurochemical whose levels are decreased in a patient with dementia. This will help to improve the patient's life and make him as independent and as confident as possible. This will also help to reduce the stress upon the patient's family members and his other caregivers. If you notice any such symptoms in a person around you kindly promptly bring him to our attention. We are always available to provide the best care for a dementia patient. Thank you.