Symptoms

• Memory: Memory problems that interfere with everyday life. This may include forgetting a work meeting or recent events that would normally be remembered, or repeating questions.
• Confusion: People may become confused in unfamiliar situations and lose a sense of place and time.
• Changes in personality and behaviour: These may be subtle at first. People may become low in mood, irritable, lose their confidence or show less interest in activities they used to enjoy.
• Language: Difficulty finding the right words and communicating. This is called aphasia.
• Visual problems: People can have difficulty recognising objects and judging speed or distance. When visual problems are a leading symptom, the cause may be posterior cortical atrophy.
• Planning and problem solving: Carrying out daily tasks like paying bills, cooking and driving may be noticeably affected.

• Things may appear to have an unusual colour, appear distorted or look like they are moving around.
• Objects become less recognisable. People may struggle to recognise objects out of the corner of their eye or might see many different objects close together as one object.
• Surfaces and depth can look different. For example, a black object or puddle may look like a hole in the floor, or it may be difficult to find and reach for a door handle.
• People may still see an image of an object after looking away, or not be able to see more than one object at a time.
• People may not always be able to see what is right in front of them and may bump into things.
• Problems with reading, writing, and judging distances.
• Becoming low in mood and feeling anxious or frustrated more often.

• Slower thinking – someone may take more time to process information, follow instructions or to plan ahead.
• Speaking – struggling to find the right words, slurring speech or difficulty following conversations.
• Personality changes – people may become low in mood, have reduced motivation or be more emotional, or lose interest in what’s happening around them.
• Movement problems and stability - difficulty or unsteadiness walking or changes in the way a person walks.

• Changes to behaviour: being inappropriate, or a change in sense of humour.
• Emotion: a change in how people express their feelings, or understand other people’s feelings.
• Awareness: people may not realise they are experiencing changes to their behaviour and emotions.
• Words: Having trouble using the right word – often saying another word or using a vague term like ‘thing’ instead of a specific object.
• Understanding: people may find it hard to follow or engage with conversations.
• Concepts: for example not understanding that money is used for buying things, or that the remote controls the TV.
• Communicating with others: slurred or hesitant speech, and maybe hard to understand.
• Understanding: Find it hard to understand long and complex sentences, this can affect reading and writing too.
• Movement: stiff or slowed bodily movement, weakness and twitches or cramps
• If you are concerned about your memory, thinking, or any of the above symptoms, speak to your doctor.

• Changes in alertness and attention, and periods of confusion. These periods can be unpredictable and change from hour-to-hour, or day-to-day.
• Movement problems such as slower movements, stiffness in the arms and legs, and shaking or trembling.
• Stability, people can become unsteady when moving around and be at risk of falling over.
• Visual hallucinations. People with DLB may see things that are not really there, for example people or animals. These hallucinations can happen repeatedly and are realistic.
• Changes to thinking and memory. People often notice difficulty planning activities, and loss of ability to find their way around. Memory can be affected, but this may occur later and is often less affected.
• Sleep problems. Vivid dreams and shouting out or moving while asleep. This can disrupt sleep, and may cause injury.
• Changes to sense of smell or taste.

• Tremors, causing arms or legs to shake.
• Slow movement, which can lead to slow, shuffling walking.
• Muscle stiffness which can result in painful cramps.
• Problems with thinking, memory or planning.

For more information about Parkinson’s disease you can visit Parkinson’s UK website.