13 Warning Signs Of Dementia

A guide to 13 symptons you should never ignore

- Mark Witten

STEPHEN CHOW KNEW something was off when he started making more spelling errors in his work emails. This was in 2010, and Chow, 51 at the time, was an IT specialist living in Scarborough.

He tried to ignore the mistakes at first, but the situation became more obvious when attempts to punch in his password kept failing. He found it gradually harder to focus and perform simple, familiar tasks, such as calculating numbers or putting his signature on a document. “Everything was all messed up, and I didn’t know what to do about it,” he says. Not wanting his wife, Eva, and two adult sons to worry, he kept it a secret, hoping he could just muddle through.

Instead, over the next several years, more alarming symptoms appeared. As Chow made the daily 90-minute drive to and from work, he had trouble seeing the centre line on the road, as well as the cars beside him. In early 2014, his patchy vision almost killed him when he couldn’t clearly discern the road’s edge and slid into the ditch during a snowstorm. He was unharmed, but his anxiety mounted, and he decided to talk to his doctor.

When Chow described his difficulties with typing and driving— both related to motor skills—his physician initially referred him to a specialist in Parkinson’s disease. That condition was ruled out because he didn’t have hand or leg tremors. In May of 2014, Chow had an appointment with Dr Carmela Tartaglia, a cognitive neurologist specialising in early-onset dementia.