Mild cognitive impairment symptoms

Mild cognitive impairment symptoms become easier to spot once you know what you're looking for. Here's how to recognize the signs of MCI. To learn more, get my free guide "Know the Symptoms of MCI" here: https://gocogno.com/mci-symptoms/

Thumbnail photo by Debora Cardenas on Unsplash

Here's a partial transcript of today's video:
Hi, I’m Tony Dearing of GoCogno.com, the website for people with mild cognitive impairment. And thanks for joining me. What we’re going to talk about today are the symptoms of mild cognitive impairment.

Mild cognitive impairment isn’t just forgetfulness. Or taking a little longer for a word or a name or a piece of information to come to you.

The symptoms of mild cognitive impairment have more to do with confusion, or disorientation or struggling to do things that used to be easy.

If you can’t find your car keys because you don’t remember where you put them, that’s a common occurrence that can happen at any age, and it's nothing to worry about.

If you can’t find your car keys because you put them in the refrigerator, that’s a concern. That’s a sign of confusion and a cause of concern.

I was recently talking to a woman who was diagnosed with MCI just before her 70th birthday. However, her family saw the issues before she did, and they became concerned enough, they sat down with her and had what she called a little "intervention." And she told me when that happened, she was angry, she was defensive, she was in denial. She was like, “No, you’re wrong. I’m fine. There is nothing wrong with me.” But after that, even she couldn’t ignore some of the things that were occurring. And she told me the thing that kind of put her over the edge is that she had this family dog and she'd had it for 10 years, and there was a day when she looked down at the dog, and she could not only not remember the dog's name, she couldn’t remember that it was a dog. She could not identify what kind of an animal it was.

And that's when she knew she had an issue, and she went and she got evaluated and she's being treated.

So the signs and symptoms of cognitive impairment can become pretty obvious, if you know what you’re looking for. Symptoms of MCI can include:
Forgetfulness often enough that it worries you
Struggling to understand information you read
Trouble planning things or solving problems
Forgetting the name of a family member
Losing interest in favorite activities
Getting lost in a familiar setting
Showing poor judgment or struggling to make decisions
Or your family or friends may be expressing concerns about your memory

If you see any of these symptoms, don’t ignore them, or just don't wonder and worry. Find out. Get a memory screen. It may show that your memory is within normal for your age, and you're fine, and you’ll be relieved. Or if it does point to a problem, you can be evaluated further and that problem can be identified and addressed.

To help you, I’ve put together this resource guide “Know the Symptoms of MCI.” It lists the common symptoms I’ve shown you here, and points you to the best resources for getting a memory screen.

If you want this guide, just go to gocogno.com/mci-symptoms. It’s free when you sign up for my weekly brain health newsletter, which is also free.

Oh, and one other thing I wanted to mention, I do these videos on brain health every week, and your welcome to check them out. I hope to see you again. Until then, be kind to your mind.

This site is educational, and is not intended as medical advice. It offers information about lifestyle choices that have been proven to help protect cognition. Always consult your doctor before making changes that can impact your health.