Making lists is dementia sign that can strike 5 years before diagnosis

Dementia details a cluster of symptoms linked to an ongoing cognitive decline. While the greatest known risk for dementia is increasing age, this condition is not considered a normal part of ageing. Being able to spot red flag signs promptly can buy you precious time to intervene before it’s too late. One warning sign can appear in your attitude to lists.While there’s no magical device that can help predict whether you’ll develop dementia, there are some ‘subtle’ signs that could ring alarm bells years before you start experiencing major symptoms.According to Dr Emer MacSweeney, CEO and Consultant Neuroradiologist at Re:Cognition Health, one such sign can crop up when you’re about to go shopping.’At the very early stage, the symptoms are very non-specific and they can be due to all sorts of different things,’ said the doctor.From trying to locate your favourite products to ensuring you get the best price, there are many different things that go through your head when browsing store aisles.READ MORE: Acholic stools are ‘the most common’ sign of pancreatic cancer in ‘initial’ stages Dementia: Making lists is ‘subtle’ sign that could strike ‘five’ years before diagnosis. (Image: GETTY)However, you might suddenly notice that you are not really sure what you need from the shop, prompting you to start making lists.Dr MacSweeney said: ‘Often people find that they’ve started to make lists. Some people might make lists all their lives but [this concerns] people who didn’t really make lists and are starting to.’That’s because if they go to the shop, they just don’t know whether to buy more than six or seven items. Or they find they’ll come back having forgotten them.’This means that if you suddenly find yourself in a need of making lists later in life, you might be experiencing cognitive decline.DON’T MISS  ‘The other thing that people start doing is…putting a little notepad by the telephone.’ (Image: GETTY) From healthy diet to exercise, there are various ways to cut your dementia risk. (Image: Express.co.uk)While symptoms like these don’t necessarily guarantee you have the mind-robbing condition, it’s important to get checked.The expert added: ‘The reason why this is important is that we are getting quite close to new drugs, which are actually designed to treat the underlying cause of the symptoms in an individual.’If you want to try and stop it from progressing, you have to be able to diagnose as early as possible and you have to be able to give medication as early as possible.’According to the NHS, other dementia signs worth knowing include:Memory loss (remembering past events much more easily than recent ones)Problems thinking or reasoning, or finding it hard to follow conversations or TV programmesFeeling anxious, depressed or angry about memory loss, or feeling confused, even when in a familiar environment.