Can't get official early onset diagnosis of dementia for my mom from PCP
Comments
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Welcome to the forum. I think you mean she has early stage dementia, not early onset- which typically means diagnosis before age 65. If you look to the right under Quick Links and Groups, there is one for new members that has a lot of useful information, including a good staging tool.
At age 84, there is probably no point to pursuing any more specific diagnosis. Vascular dementia and Alzheimer's are both common, as is a mixture of the two, but it makes little difference clinically. It's going to be a matter of how to practically and safely take care of her. Legal and financial matters should be addressed as soon as possible.
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Has any of the doctors done an MMSE test? That takes about 10 minutes. The score tells you a lot. The other way to diagnose it is to get her referred to a neuropsychologist for the 2.5 hour cognitive testing.
However, as M1 mentioned, the diagnosis doesn’t matter much. If she’s given someone a ‘springing’ POA, that takes letters of incompency to enact. If she’s given someone a durable POA, then that took affect on the day it was signed. The person can begin acting on her behalf immediately0 -
Thank you for asking this question . My family has been experiencing the same. It feels like beating my head against a wall. Also, the reply’s are most helpful.
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Go to a neurologist. That's what I did with my 84 yr old mother at the direction of her PCP because he isn't truly capable of making that diagnosis. The neurologist gave a basic diagnosis based on his observances but wanted a neuro-psycologist to do more testing. Afterwards, he gave a full diagnosis of Alz dementia.
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Hi thanks all for your advice. Oh I didn't think about a neuropsychologist. I'll see if I can start asking my PCP about it. Thanks again!
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Moms pcp did a very quick test at my insistence and she did very well(no sign of problems). Again I insisted on a referral to a neurologist. After the much move extensive testing we were not only told she has dementia, but that she should not drive and should no longer live alone. I think she needs to see a neurologist. They are saying she has lost volume in her brain, but are not giving a diagnosis? Seems odd. I think the specific type of dementia can be tricky to diagnose, but it seems like they should be able to tell you if it’s dementia. Good luck.
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Commonly Used Abbreviations
DH = Dear Husband
DW= Dear Wife, Darling Wife
LO = Loved One
ES = Early Stage
EO = Early Onset
FTD = Frontotemporal Dementia
VD = Vascular Dementia
MC = Memory Care
AL = Assisted Living
POA = Power of Attorney
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