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just had for breakfast. Or he may not remember what day of the month it is, even a few minutes after someone tells him. The same person, however, may remember his childhood in detail. As with other dementias, symptoms include problems with reasoning or judgment, difficulty in learning anything new, loss of language skills, and the inability to do everyday things. For example, someone with this disease might put her watch in the refrigerator and the lettuce in the bathroom. The disease can also cause personality changes. Sometimes a person with Alzheimer’s becomes confrontational and angry. Other times, she sees things that are not there or believes in a reality that does not exist.

A common saying about Alzheimer’s is that it is not about forgetting your keys, but about putting your keys in the freezer. In other words, Alzheimer’s can make people lose track of the logical connections between different things.