Hallo.
I am 65 years old and went to my GP (a new one at the surgery) in the middle of December 2015 as I was worried about the increase of problems over the previous year or so with my memory. I won't go into TOO much detail as I guess that most people on this forum are familiar with the symptoms that change from being 'it's your age, dear' to something more 'sinister', worthy of diagnosis. Enough to say that my brain cannot 'hold onto' thoughts, I say and write 'random' words, cannot remember things I have just done or said, leave things in the microwave and don't remember them until smoke appears, forget that I have bought things, until I stumble across them later, get very frustrated in conversations if someone interrupts, as the whole conversation disappears from my head, etc. Enough of a change anyway to go to the doctor. I passed the 'memory test' questions ok (someone's name and address), but surely that doesn't cover everything? But anyway, she referred me to the Memory Clinic (not sure which particular one it was).
Last summer, I lost partial sight in one eye and a very concerned optician took X-rays or scans (can't remember which) which showed that an artery was blocked in that eye. He referred me to the eye clinic at the hospital but by the time I woke up next morning (they couldn't see me that day), my sight had returned (which I understand from my optician does happen), so they had nothing to go on except the picture the optician took on my phone of his X-ray. The optician said next day (he asked me to phone him to find out what the hospital said) that it could be a 'mini-stroke' and that I was lucky that it had affected something that could be 'seen', ie may be a 'warning'. My GP (another one) was asked to increase my cholesterol medication by the eye clinic.
A few days after seeing the new GP in December, I mentioned (unwisely, as it turns out) the Memory Clinic referral to a senior nurse at the GP's surgery who gives me blood tests (because of some medication that I am on). She airily said, 'Oh, it's a migraine, I've had that. Nothing to worry about.' I said that I had never had a migraine in my life but she insisted that she was right and that you can get migraines without pain, but your eyes 'go a bit funny'. Well, I Googled this when I got home and yes, you can get migraines without pain, but the eye problems last a few minutes, not from midday till I went to bed well after midnight!
I have learnt not to say any more to anyone else, but everyone that I DID mention it to seems to be a 'specialist', saying, 'Oh, that happens to me'. But they don't KNOW what happens every single day to me, and the more you try to tell them, the more they insist you are over-reacting, and undermine me. Only one person (the person I speak to more than anyone else) knows how badly these things have affected me over the past year or so or even longer.
The thing is, after more than 6 weeks (end of January), I still hadn't received an appointment from the Memory Clinic so I asked the receptionist at the GP's surgery if a referral had been made. She couldn't see anything relevant on my records and she typed a 'reminder' to the GP to 'nudge' her.
Nothing has come from the Memory Clinic yet (now Feb 15th). Is it possible that the senior nurse could have accessed my records to 'cancel' the referral as she had 'diagnosed' (or rather 'mis'-diagnosed) my problem herself? Do I wait another month or two to see if an appointment arrives? Did the GP say she would refer me to 'get me out of the surgery'? I would have thought that if you can have a mini-stroke which affects your eye, you can have a mini-stroke that affects other parts of your brain without noticing pain or anything physical? The 'nurse', when I mentioned that I do a particular thing to 'check' that I have checked that plugs were off (a note on the door) said, 'Well, you can't have dementia if you can remember to look at the note'. Surely, different areas of brain get affected by different arteries or whatever? So that I can remember particular things, but not others. My long-term memory seems to be becoming astoundingly good. I've always had a good long-term memory but now am remembering many more things that happened in my youth, which I understand can be a symptom of dementia onset.
Please, can anyone relate to any of this? I am getting so frustrated and feeling constantly undermined by 'laymen' and even 'not-so-laymen' like the nurse at the surgery. Should I just assume that if I don't get an appointment that the GP didn't have any real intention of sending me to the Memory Clinic? I am not a hypochondriac. I have health problems which are under control (ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as high blood pressure and high cholesterol), and don't like making 'a fuss' about anything.
Thank you.
Caracoveney
I am 65 years old and went to my GP (a new one at the surgery) in the middle of December 2015 as I was worried about the increase of problems over the previous year or so with my memory. I won't go into TOO much detail as I guess that most people on this forum are familiar with the symptoms that change from being 'it's your age, dear' to something more 'sinister', worthy of diagnosis. Enough to say that my brain cannot 'hold onto' thoughts, I say and write 'random' words, cannot remember things I have just done or said, leave things in the microwave and don't remember them until smoke appears, forget that I have bought things, until I stumble across them later, get very frustrated in conversations if someone interrupts, as the whole conversation disappears from my head, etc. Enough of a change anyway to go to the doctor. I passed the 'memory test' questions ok (someone's name and address), but surely that doesn't cover everything? But anyway, she referred me to the Memory Clinic (not sure which particular one it was).
Last summer, I lost partial sight in one eye and a very concerned optician took X-rays or scans (can't remember which) which showed that an artery was blocked in that eye. He referred me to the eye clinic at the hospital but by the time I woke up next morning (they couldn't see me that day), my sight had returned (which I understand from my optician does happen), so they had nothing to go on except the picture the optician took on my phone of his X-ray. The optician said next day (he asked me to phone him to find out what the hospital said) that it could be a 'mini-stroke' and that I was lucky that it had affected something that could be 'seen', ie may be a 'warning'. My GP (another one) was asked to increase my cholesterol medication by the eye clinic.
A few days after seeing the new GP in December, I mentioned (unwisely, as it turns out) the Memory Clinic referral to a senior nurse at the GP's surgery who gives me blood tests (because of some medication that I am on). She airily said, 'Oh, it's a migraine, I've had that. Nothing to worry about.' I said that I had never had a migraine in my life but she insisted that she was right and that you can get migraines without pain, but your eyes 'go a bit funny'. Well, I Googled this when I got home and yes, you can get migraines without pain, but the eye problems last a few minutes, not from midday till I went to bed well after midnight!
I have learnt not to say any more to anyone else, but everyone that I DID mention it to seems to be a 'specialist', saying, 'Oh, that happens to me'. But they don't KNOW what happens every single day to me, and the more you try to tell them, the more they insist you are over-reacting, and undermine me. Only one person (the person I speak to more than anyone else) knows how badly these things have affected me over the past year or so or even longer.
The thing is, after more than 6 weeks (end of January), I still hadn't received an appointment from the Memory Clinic so I asked the receptionist at the GP's surgery if a referral had been made. She couldn't see anything relevant on my records and she typed a 'reminder' to the GP to 'nudge' her.
Nothing has come from the Memory Clinic yet (now Feb 15th). Is it possible that the senior nurse could have accessed my records to 'cancel' the referral as she had 'diagnosed' (or rather 'mis'-diagnosed) my problem herself? Do I wait another month or two to see if an appointment arrives? Did the GP say she would refer me to 'get me out of the surgery'? I would have thought that if you can have a mini-stroke which affects your eye, you can have a mini-stroke that affects other parts of your brain without noticing pain or anything physical? The 'nurse', when I mentioned that I do a particular thing to 'check' that I have checked that plugs were off (a note on the door) said, 'Well, you can't have dementia if you can remember to look at the note'. Surely, different areas of brain get affected by different arteries or whatever? So that I can remember particular things, but not others. My long-term memory seems to be becoming astoundingly good. I've always had a good long-term memory but now am remembering many more things that happened in my youth, which I understand can be a symptom of dementia onset.
Please, can anyone relate to any of this? I am getting so frustrated and feeling constantly undermined by 'laymen' and even 'not-so-laymen' like the nurse at the surgery. Should I just assume that if I don't get an appointment that the GP didn't have any real intention of sending me to the Memory Clinic? I am not a hypochondriac. I have health problems which are under control (ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as high blood pressure and high cholesterol), and don't like making 'a fuss' about anything.
Thank you.
Caracoveney
