Reading these posts have been very helpful. Although my husband has not been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s each time he goes in hospital they ask for the GP to refer him for assessment. Unfortunately they are very remiss about doing this
It's a shame that he is not being referred because if he is diagnosed he may be prescribed medication that could help. It is not a cure but it has helped my husband to remain fairly stable for over 2 years now. There is a constant slow deterioration, but the medication seems to stop him from becoming constantly confused, it has made a lot of difference to us.
I think if I were in your situation I would push for the GP to refer him and just don't take no for an answer, if he was assessed you would know for sure and he could receive some treatment. A diagnosis really helped both of us, I knew long before the diagnosis that there was something wrong, but I had to approach it carefully and get him to agree to go and see the GP. He wanted me to come into the appointment with him, but I suggested he should go in by himself and discuss it. I wanted the GP to see what he was like without me there, the GP already knew what the appointment was about as I had given this information when arranging it. If I had been in the room my husband would just have turned to me and expected me to answer the questions, that is what he was doing at that stage. The decision to refer him was made right away.
But because he was diagnosed early he understood all of what was happening and was able to discuss it and therefore accepted it. The diagnosis stopped him from being so difficult and argumentative if I was forced to explain he had got something wrong or misunderstood something. It had reached the point where he would not believe he could possibly be wrong about anything and it was very hard not to react with anger or exasperation.
Getting the diagnosis meant we were able to communicate more calmly which was helpful for both of us. I know I am losing a little bit more of him all the time, but treatment has given us both the help and the time we needed to come to terms with this. We desperately needed to be calm about it and communicate and he was able to do that.
We are two years down the line from that and it is gradually becoming harder for him to do things like count, figures confuse him a lot now. I have to spend more time explaining things to him, conversations are very different now from what they used to be. Little things have to be explained in detail, so I am very aware of the condition deteriorating. But I also know that without a diagnosis and some treatment neither of us would be coping now at this stage.
I am just saying that this has been our experience but everyone is different and not all at the same stage, but I needed him to get a diagnosis, it was every bit as important for me as it was for him.