Last year I took one of my clients to her doctors and while we were there mentioned to the doctor that my client was having some trouble with her memory. The doctor immediately said that she was not going to put her on the typical Alzheimer's drugs because in her opinion they didn't work. She also said she wasn't going to give her a referral to a neurologist because he would only put her on the drugs and they didn't work.
I won't even tell you what I was thinking at the time but I have seen the drugs work with other clients (but I'm just a caregiver so what do I know?). That wasn't even the point. The point was, how did she know it was Alzheimer's? Why jump to that conclusion without even the most cursory investigation into other reasons for memory loss?
Memory loss can be caused by many things and they really need to be ruled out before a diagnoses of Alzheimer's is made. This article from The Alzheimer's Reading Room lists many of the possible causes for Alzheimer's like symptoms. If you suspect your loved one has Alzheimer's they need to be seen by a neurologist and not just the primary care physician to make sure all other causes have been ruled out.
Is it really Alzheimer's or something else?
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