Many older people forget someone’s name or misplace things from time to time. This kind of forgetfulness is normal. But, forgetting how to get home, getting confused in places a person knows well, or asking questions over and over can be signs of a more serious problem. The person may have Alzheimer’s disease [1] (pronounced Allz-high-merz duh-zeez). It is a disease of the brain that begins slowly and gets worse over time.

Tips about using this booklet

Use the Table of Contents to help you find things quickly. Also, we put some medical terms in bold, such as Alzheimer’s disease. You can find how to say these words and what they mean in the “Words to know” section.