Newly Diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Dino305 · July 2023

Hi everyone..I am 58 year old School Counselor newly diagnosed with MCI, based on Montreal Assesment. I have a variety of risk factors--family hx on paternal side (Grandmother, Uncle, Father) plus I have Type II Diabetes, Sleep Apnia, Peripheral arterial disease, etc.

I am scheduled for a workup--blood test, MRI, and Nuero-phsyc evaluation. Advice given was to follow MIND diet and increase exercise.

Wife and daughter were not surprised with the news, as they have noticed my 'quirks.' However, it is an unexpected added stressor as wife is primary care giver for 90 year old father who has mid stage Alzheimers.

All advice is welcome. Fianlly, Are there trials for MCI patients that focus on diet and exercise?

Iris L. · July 2023

Welcome, Howardino. You have gotten good advice regarding diet and exercise. Your risk factors can be the causes of significant cognitive impairment. Do as much as you can to get sleep apnea, diabetes and arterial disease under control. Are you overweight? Losing weight will help these conditions.

As far as I know, there are no clinical trials that focus on diet and exercise, which we call Best Practices. Many PWDs (persons with dementia) follow Best Practices in order to improve functioning and to prolong the early stages. I myself followed Best Practices and I have done okay. Keep in mind that I do not have Alzheimer's Disease. There are clinical trials for various medical treatments.

What are you going to do about work? Do you need work accommodations? Have you gotten any verbal or written warnings in your annual performance review? If so, plan carefully your next steps, because you could be at risk of losing your job and your employee benefits. Please keep us updated on how you are doing.

Iris

Dino305 · July 2023

So far so good at work. My visual processing is strong so much of my administrative work is fine. I take notes and then enter info into computer. Thank you for your comments by the way.