Dr Mehmet Oz, an American television presenter and physician, shared Alzheimer’s disease signs that he missed in his own mum.
He opened up on his mother’s diagnosis with the mind-robbing condition on his show The Dr. Oz Show.
“Even though I’m a doctor, I fear I may have missed some of the signs, I don’t fear it, I know it,” he said.
On the show, the doctor shared a clip of his mum, getting ready and doing her make-up. In the clip, his mum said that she was getting ready to go out with her mum, who died. Dr Oz revealed that this was when he got worried.
Dr Oz said: “I blame myself because I realise if I found it earlier, it could have helped. The clues were there. She wasn’t understanding what was going on.”
At the beginning, his family would notice subtle signs they would just let go like her make-up not being perfect, she would start giving away things, or she would argue about things that she wouldn’t otherwise.
Dr Oz said: “It’s a chameleon of a disease, it’s slippery. It’s like a snake in the grass, you sort of see the grass but you can’t quite tell what it is and you don’t want to admit it because it’s too painful.”
To ensure people are aware of the warning signs, the doctor recommended looking out for the “big six”.
Dr Oz outlined the following six key symptoms:
- Challenges in planning
- Difficulty completing tasks
- Confusion with time and place
- Trouble understanding visuals (not being able to do spatial math like judging whether something will fit somewhere)
- Problems with words
- Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps.
He shared that confusion with time and place “became a big deal” for his mum. Dr Oz said: “My mum would say, ‘Why don’t you come over for lunch?’ I said, ‘Mum, you’re an 11-hour flight from me. I’m not near you.’”
The doctor explained that these are just some of the things that daughters, sons, neighbours, and friends all should be looking for.
He said: “Anyone can pick up on these things. But if you don’t talk to each other, you sort of feel like you’re the only one and you don’t want to accuse your friend of having Alzheimer’s.”
The doctor explained that it’s going to be “nerve-wrecking” to start the conversation, but there’s “power” in getting it out. “Get early intervention because it makes a difference…You’re not alone.”