Does anyone know how to tell if a loved one is developing alzeimer's, dementia, or some sort of memory disorder? My dad has always been kind of simple (to put it politely and mildly) but this past week he's been behaving strange:

So I just got this nice job caretaking for a huge cat sanctuary, its a non-profit organization and I'm working through an agency. I have to turn in timesheets to this agency in person once a week but its pretty far out of my way and kind of hard to get to without a car. My dad sometimes paints their windows (he's a freelance artist). since its out of my way and he was working for them he offered to turn in my timesheet for me and I asked him to grab more timesheets while he's there. He even calls me later that day to confirm a few things about it and tells me he grabbed more timesheets for me, however when I get home he tells me he forgot. No worries, I'll just have to skip a day of work and go pick them up.. After work the next day I start to wonder, did he even turn in my timesheet AT ALL? So I call him and he says he did.

Today, I go in to pick up more timesheets after work (rushing like crazy to catch the bus and get there before they close and while I'm there, I ask them "did my dad turn in my timesheet" because they should have a record of it, after all they do keep a copy. They say no, not only didn't he turn one in, he tried to reapply me for this job... the one I've had for a week... the one I GAVE HIM A TIMESHEET TO TURN IN FOR!!! So, not only did he lie to me MULTIPLE TIMES but he also tried to at least grab an application for me... when its pretty crystal clear I'm already working there... through this agency... for that organization... OBVIOUSLY!!...

Honestly, when I learned this I was tempted to head home and confront him about it.... maybe a little more than confront... but still...

I wish I could say this is the first time something like this has happened but its not, its just the most serious. He's also exhibited a number of odd symptoms. He's had auditory hallucinations since I was a teenager. He often hears voices and assumes someone is talking to him but usually the person he thought he heard never said anything. For example, a few months ago he came to my door 4 times asking me if I just said something to him... I hadn't said a word any of those 4 times..

He's lied to me about stuff like this before but usually not very often, like when he told me I could live with him for free once my grandparents move in.. although now that is more or less true, it definitely wasn't at the time and I did in fact call him out on it. I told him flat out that I knew he couldn't hold up to that promise and sure enough, he just kept on charging me rent. At the time I had a job that didn't pay a whole lot so I was always broke but I didn't really rub it into his face until he forced me to one day. He sure got angry when I did but at least he didn't deny that he lied about it THAT time. He's still sort of charging me rent but since the money I'm using to pay rent is kind of separate from the money I get from work I kind of don't care, he's kind of just paying my rent for me now because he receives money from a different agency for having me babysit my grandparents, both of whom have Alzheimer's and Dementia (I get what ever money is left over).

But this is pretty bad. I'm posting this because I'm not sure if he's just an idiot (well duh, like I said he has always been kind of simple-minded and forgetful) or if this is some sort of early sign of Alzheimer's? This is the kind of thing I deal with with my grandparents a lot, thankfully they don't have much power or much of a presence to cause this kind of issue. They never leave the house and seem to get dreams and fantasies mixed up with reality quite often. My grandfather will even do this same sort of thing, where he'll make up a story and then firmly believe its real, so much so that he used to get quite angry when proven wrong and insist that everyone else is mistaken.

My dad has been a stoner all my life and my mom blames these things on his continued pot use (whether he admits it or not, more often than not he denies it but he recently came clean to me about that). I smoke quite a bit of pot myself though and I've never been like THAT.

I recently quite all substances because of a few disturbing health issues and started doing daily work outs, drinking only water and fruit-juice, and generally trying to eat a lot healthier. So far, I've been at it only two days and already I notice a pretty significant improvement in memory and general well-being... though admittedly I was doing more than just pot. Usually if I'm only smoking pot and I quit, the only thing that noticeably improves is my memory.