I took mum to the Memory Clinic last week to see the Nurse Clinician (she last saw the Consultant last year) and she did the usual thing of taking her blood pressure and weighing her, but didn't do the MMSE, other than asking her what the day, date and year is (she didn't have a clue).
Up until six months ago, mum was scoring 20 odd on her MMSE, back in March this went down to 13 - I just wondered whether at a certain point of deterioration there's no point in measuring it. Since that last visit she's got carers going in and I got her donepezil prescription renewed and she's started taking this drug with the help of the carers. It was the same clinician nurse as last time, and she reported that she thought that mum appeared to be much brighter.
In my mind, my mum has deteriorated still further, but as it's known dementia sufferers can only deteriorate, is there any real point in continuing to measure the rate of it? I suppose there might be in terms of long-term data on the disease, but I'm not sure how much help the MMSE might be in that case.
Up until six months ago, mum was scoring 20 odd on her MMSE, back in March this went down to 13 - I just wondered whether at a certain point of deterioration there's no point in measuring it. Since that last visit she's got carers going in and I got her donepezil prescription renewed and she's started taking this drug with the help of the carers. It was the same clinician nurse as last time, and she reported that she thought that mum appeared to be much brighter.
In my mind, my mum has deteriorated still further, but as it's known dementia sufferers can only deteriorate, is there any real point in continuing to measure the rate of it? I suppose there might be in terms of long-term data on the disease, but I'm not sure how much help the MMSE might be in that case.