My DH was diagnosed with Alz in early 2022. We have since moved to NC to be closer to family. Currently we are using the VA for medical doctors.
I now feel we need a private practice neurologist. How do I find one that is good? My DH sleeps most of the day in his recliner, but then tells me he's not sleeping… He is 78. I'm 73 and very sad and tired.
you’ve come to right place I’m sure someone here from NC that can guide you. Good luck my DW diagnosed in 2022 also seems to bring going slow. But you must get a Nurologist.
is there a reason you can’t get a VA Neurologist? My husbands primary care doctor referred him to a Neuro Psycjologist for testing and then a Neurologist, then a Geriatric Psychiatrist who could manage his meds. Also check into VA Caregiver Support. They really helped me. Is he a disabled veteran? If he was exposed to Agent Orange there is a 50% more chance that he would have Dementia and although it’s not on the presumptive list the VA may approve a claim. There is also a catastrophic category if-when he qualifies. Get a Veteran Service Officer in your county to help and every veteran has a Social Worker. Call his social worker first.
Welcome to the forum. I'm curious what you think a private neurologist can offer that you're not getting now? Once the diagnosis is made, a geriatric psychiatrist may be of more help. Many here would say that...
My DH's VA PCP will not prescribe refills for the Seroquel and Sertraline he has been stable on, for years. So we had to either…
1)switch him to a different primary team (and pulmonologist, soc. worker who manages his HHA agency etc).
2)OR get a referral from the PCP, to a add DH's previous (ongoing) civilian neuropsych as a VA community care provider so they could continue seeing him (Virtual appointments) and keep his prescriptions going.
3)OR we could have switched to a VA Neuropsych and gone through a lot of red tape to have them re-examine and retest him and basically verify his diagnosis (after 3+ years) and then have them start managing his meds.
We kept his original Dr. via the Community Care Partner program and it has worked fine except they were cancelled abruptly at 6 months with no notice. Seems all Community Care (non VA) providers have to be renewed every 6 months and they have to confirm the diagnosis, service, and prescription is still needed. With dementia that's just foolish. Unneeded red tape. What a headache and runaround. And for meds that can't just be stopped suddenly without repercussions for the patient.
Minor rant:
What's worse is I only found out about this requirement to renew the outside provider after weeks of back and forth with the pharmacy first saying DH's prescription had expired, me contacting his neuro's office multiple times and having the Dr. resend it to the VA pharmacy multiple x in a few weeks, realizing it still wasn't showing up on my doorstep, calling the VA pharmacist and med team repeatedly to leave messages and troubleshoot this, and finally learning that the neuro was no longer recognized as a VA community partner therefore he couldn't prescribe for DH. With no communication to the patient or me. Still working to sort that out!
Thank goodness I kept Medicare after switching to VA HealthCare so DH never stopped being covered by his diagnosing neuropsych team. And also he is on hospice, so there were alternate options to get his refills during this unexpected service gap. Otherwise he would have been without Seroquel or the anti-depressant for months now. I don't understand why a veteran with dementia diagnosis would have to go through this.
Rant over.
