When it comes to dementia, money problems could be warning signs

Jonnie Lewis-Thorpe, right, lives with daughter Angela Reynolds. It wasn't until Reynolds began reviewing her mother's bank statements that she realised Lewis-Thorpe had long been in the grip of the disease. — Photos: KATIE BLACKLEY/WESA/KFF Health News/TNS

ANGELA Reynolds knew her mother’s memory was slipping, but she didn’t realise how bad things had gotten until she started to untangle her mom’s finances: unpaid bills, unusual cash withdrawals, and the discovery that, oddly, the mortgage on the family home had been refinanced at a higher interest rate.

Looking back, Reynolds realises her mother was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease: “By the time we caught on, it was too late.”