Early onset Alzheimer

Tina T. · November 24

My brother 62 has been diagnose with Early On Alzeheirs could someone share what does a through evaluation look like: what does the team who would look over his care look like: what are question he should be asking: I need specifics because as of now, his primary care doctor is making all the calls on his treatment plan which I think is not right and I could be wrong. HELP.

Vitruvius · November 24

This is an enormously broad question.

Before anything, now is the time to make sure all of the necessary legal documents are in place while your brother can still sign them. Most important is a DPOA, a HIPPA release and an advanced directive (aka living will, Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)). Others to consider are Trusts, wills, social security representative payee designation, etc. This is truly critical. If you are not otherwise legally associated with him, getting him the necessary care could be very difficult.

Next you really need a neurologist, neuropsychologist or geriatrician who specializes in dementia. I found my DWs PCP to be completely unprepared to deal with a dementia patient. There are a number of different types of dementia and PCPs are poorly equipped to hone in on the actual type and use “Alzheimer’s” as a catch all. (It turned out my DW, also EO, had a non-Alzheimer’s version called Semantic Dementia.) It can be important for medications to know the actual type as some are contraindicated for different dementias. My very limited understanding of the new treatments is also dependent upon the specific dementia. I recommend a university medical center with a department on dementia care as a place to start, that’s where we went and it was excellent.

Many here suggest the book “The 36-hour day”, although I personally never used it but it sounds like I should have. This is loaded with the information you are interested in. There is also a resources section on this site with many valuable articles.

SDianeL · November 26

As VITRUVIUS said: A Neuropsychologist administers 4 hour testing (not medical) to determine the degree of memory loss & other abilities. That doctor told me that my DH had moderate impairment and visuospatial difficulties and should no longer be driving. A Neurologist will request scans and other tests to try to determine the type of dementia. Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia for example. They mainly rule out things. I think the only way they can determine for sure what type of dementia is spinal tap but I refused to put my DH through that as he did have EO. That’s a question for the Neurologist. A Geriatric Psychiatrist is the best type of doctor to manage anti-psychotic medications to help with anxiety, agitation and aggression. Ditto on checking to see if there is a Memory Clinic associated with a Medical University in your area.

Cindy9519 · November 27

My DH was diagnosed at 62 as well. He had cognitive testing and an MRI by a neurologist to confirm his diagnosis.

I also had his personal physician review all the information and he agreed with the evaluation.

A neurologist and a general practitioner is a good team to start with.

I did read the 36 hour day and found it to be very helpful and informative.

Early onset Alzheimer

Comments

Commonly Used Abbreviations

Community Guidelines

Categories