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When memory starts to slip
For people in the United States who are worried about their own memory, living with dementia, or caring for someone who is. Who answers, at any hour. How ordinary forgetfulness differs from dementia. What dementia is. Seeing a doctor, and why sooner helps. The medicines. Tips if it is you. Anger, suspicion and restlessness. Safety at home, and driving. Money and the papers to get in order. Finding help with care, and who pays. Looking after the person who gives the care. And the words to say when you call. No memory test and no score. One thing at a time.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- Someone with dementia is missing, hurt or in danger? Call 911, and say they have dementia.
- Confusion that came on suddenly? That is urgent: call their doctor now, or 911. The National Institute on Aging says sudden changes should be immediately brought to a doctor’s attention.
- Need a person who knows dementia, at any hour? The Alzheimer’s Association says its free Helpline is answered day and night: 1-800-272-3900.
- Thinking about ending your life, or at the end of your rope? Call or text 988, at any hour. Caregivers too. Or text HOME to 741741.
- There is a reason to find out. The National Institute on Aging says some causes of dementia symptoms can be halted or even reversed with treatment, and that forgetfulness can be a normal part of aging.
More help
- Giving the care? When you’re caring for someone.
- Services for older adults? Help as you get older.
- Seeing a doctor soon? Get ready for your appointment and When you need a doctor and can’t pay.
- A call or letter asking for money? Is this a scam?
- Papers and a lawyer? When you need a lawyer and can’t pay.
- Money or food short? When the money runs out and When you need food.
- Losing your temper? When anger takes over and Breathe and ground.
- Worn down and low? When the heaviness won’t lift, When you feel alone and Can’t sleep?
- A veteran? For veterans, and the people beside them.
- At the end? When someone has died and After a death: the practical things.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
Your mood, your thoughts, sleep, worry or an urge, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for thoughts of suicide and self-harm, depression, bipolar, anxiety, OCD, trauma, psychosis, eating, drinking and gambling, sleep, grief, ADHD, autism and memory, on one list.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- When a medical bill is too much: what to check before you pay, the financial help nonprofit hospitals must offer, surprise bills, and debt collectors.
- If an older person is being hurt: an older person who is being hurt, neglected or robbed: the signs, who takes a report, nursing homes, scams, and free people to call.
- When it gets hard to hear: hearing that is fading: sudden hearing loss (an emergency), the signs, hearing aids with and without a prescription, what Medicare pays for, and what you can ask for.
- When someone you love is dying: someone who is dying: hospice and palliative care, what Medicare pays for, keeping them comfortable, what you may see near the end, and what to say.
- When someone is missing: someone you cannot find, a child, a teenager, a person with dementia or an adult: the first hour, what to tell the police, and who to call.
- When it’s Parkinson’s: Parkinson’s disease: the signs, the diagnosis, the medicines and their side effects, and who to call.
- When you need help at home and can’t pay for it: home health care, aides, bathing and meals, what Medicare and Medicaid cover, and who to ask: when you need help at home and can’t pay for it: the home health care Medicare covers and the daily help it leaves out, the short deadline when an agency says your care is ending, what Medicaid must cover at home and may add, the VA programs, and the local agencies behind home-delivered meals.
- When someone needs a nursing home and you can’t pay for it: what Medicare covers, Medicaid, a spouse at home, being told to leave, and who to ask: when someone needs a nursing home and you can’t pay for it: the short stay Medicare covers and the long stay it does not, what Medicaid must cover, what is protected for a spouse at home, when a nursing home may make a resident leave, the VA homes, and who stands up for residents.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from pages read on October 2, 2026: the U.S. National Institute on Aging (What Is Dementia? Symptoms, Types, and Diagnosis, reviewed December 2022; Memory Problems, Forgetfulness, and Aging, reviewed November 2023; What Is Mild Cognitive Impairment?, reviewed April 2021; How Is Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosed?, reviewed December 2022; How Is Alzheimer’s Disease Treated?; Managing Personality and Behavior Changes, Home Safety Tips, Driving Safety and Alzheimer’s Disease, Caring for Yourself and Getting Help With Alzheimer’s Caregiving, each reviewed in 2024; Managing Money Problems for People With Dementia, reviewed October 2023; and its page about the ADEAR Center); Alzheimers.gov (Tips for People With Dementia, Planning After a Dementia Diagnosis, and Finding Dementia Care and Local Services, each last updated January 2026); the Alzheimer’s Association’s page about its 24/7 Helpline; and the home page of the Eldercare Locator. The lines about 988 and Crisis Text Line were read on October 1, 2026 for our other pages. The Alzheimer’s Association and Crisis Text Line are private organisations describing their own services. We did not call or text any line, contact any provider, search any directory or check any service. Much of what the Institute writes is about Alzheimer’s disease; other kinds of dementia can differ, and we did not read its pages on Lewy body, frontotemporal or vascular dementia. We also did not read its pages on communication, agitation and sundowning, wandering, hallucinations, living alone, long-term care, the last stages, advance care planning or paying for care; the Food and Drug Administration’s pages or any medicine’s label; Medicare’s or Medicaid’s own pages; or any state’s law on powers of attorney, guardianship or driving. Where the page links to one of these, it says we did not read it. The page has no memory test and gives no score, on purpose: a list of signs is not a diagnosis. Lines marked “Ours” are our own suggestions. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a care provider or a government agency, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].