Totally confused

[Beth56]

Today after roughly 2 years of trying to get my husband to agree to visit the Dr re is memory etc. The Dr asked him various questions which his score was 28 out of 30. Dr reckons because of his age it is just deterioration of memory. He has not referred him or anything I am totally confused but also Thankful. Dr said if he had dementia he would not have been able to do the tests


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[chris53]

Beth,that is good news in a way,but you know your husband better then anyone else so you will be aware of is it just "memory problems", so a warm welcome to Talking Point, we are here if and when you need us do keep on to the doctor if there are significant changes that you don't feel are age related! please ensure and indeed insist that your doctors practice does as soon as possible blood tests for thyroid,iron,diabetes vitamin b levels, all which can cause memory problems, physical health is so very often overlooked when memory problems start to kick in.
Take care
Chris

 

[Beth56]

Chris, he said he is not in the least concerned about oh memory. Why does hubby repeat himself 6-7 times I cannot fathom it out. The tests the Dr gave him were very simple eg months of the year backwards. Dr said someone with dementia would not be able to do that


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[nitram]

"Why does hubby repeat himself 6-7 times I cannot fathom it out. "

If this is a repeated question, do you answer him the first time?
Has his hearing been tested?

 

[Beth56]

Yes I answer him every time


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[LadyA]

Ha! My husband was still scoring almost perfectly on those tests for a long time after I, and his GP, AND the Psychiatry of Old Age Consultant knew that he had dementia! It was obvious that he had. The consultant said that the tests cannot be regarded as a reliable indicator on their own, as the person's performance will depend on many variables - their starting intellectual and educational levels, for example. And how active they were, physically, mentally and socially. Because those factors help the brain build neural pathways, he said, which act like detours around the damage done by the dementia - so although there, and progressing, it doesn't show as much and the person can function quite well, for much longer.

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[Beth56]

LadyA thank you, my husband is/was an extremely intelligent guy, he was a director and a civil engineer , been involved with building bridges,I felt the questions he was asked were too basic. I don't really know how to take this further, To some extent I feel my concerns have been dismissed so don't know what I can do if anything.[emoji22] He has not been referred to a memory clinic or anything


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[canary]

Beth my OH was a civil engineer too and still has no problem with those questions. It took 3 years for the doctors to decide that he had dementia.

All I can say is that dementia, like pregnancy, cant be hidden indefinitely - eventually everyone will know!

 

[Beth56]

Ah ok, how did you deal with it, some days he is not to bad but others I feel like leaving home[emoji24]


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[Spamar]

OH also scored well at the test. He got 28 1/2 on the first one and 30 thereafter. Also intelligent and well educated. It's one of those things and it certainly used to get recognised as such. However, he had known his memory was poor for some years before diagnosis. Neither of us was surprised ( both fathers had had the disease). He was given donepezil immediately, which he took until three months before he died, 9 years after diagnosis. He also has vascular dementia, btw.


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[Beth56]

It really helps to be able to airy concerns with people that understand, Thank youx


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[Beth56]

Haha prescriptive texts


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[LadyA]

I suppose I was lucky in that my husband's GP had a lot of experience in dementia - his own father had had it.
My husband always furiously denied there was anything wrong with him. However, after he died, I found that as far back as 2008 and before he had been researching alzheimers disease. He knew himself, even then.

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[Beth56]

LadyA, I suspect my oh knows too


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[Beth56]

The more I think about today, I feel Hubby's GP has totally disregarded the concerns I had expressed in the letter I sent 8 months ago regarding Oh memory problems and behaviour, I spoke to my son, he also thought it was a load of rubbish. The GP came to this conclusion in 15 mins and totally ignored somebody who is with my husband 24/7. Please don't get me wrong, I would love the Dr to be right and that I am wrong


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[LadyA]

Maybe see a different GP? There were behaviour changes in my husband years before any classic symptoms of memory problems started to show.

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[Niklz]

My dad made frequent visits to his Gp re his memory for around a year and all they did was give him pills, then more pills and so on! Then finally he got a referral to the memory clinic, a lady came out to the house and did some memory tests and he scored in the High 80s which was seen as good so they discharged him, it was only during his appointment for epilepsy the neurologist told him he had probable Alzheimer's. I do feel the investigation and tests were strung out and could have been done quicker which may or may not have changed the way he is now! My advice is if you don't agree with what the doctor says then please do ask for a second opinion and push for appointments, time is too precious to wait, maybe he has another illness that mimics dementia, like hypothyroidism or ARBD. Ask the GP to rule things out for you to put your mind at rest.
Take care


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[Beth56]

I am sorry to rant, but thinking about the questions he asked my husband I feel was an insult and patronising. Hubby is an-intelligent man. He still does complicated crosswords, suduko ( quite difficult ones )

Eg, 5 mins after we arrived for his appointment, GP asked what time was it?

Gave a address , mr John Smith, 45 High Street, Town, he must have said it about 6 times then Asked my hubby what he had said.

Asked him to to say the Months of the year but in reverse order.

He explained to us a bit about Dementia, then said if my husband had Dementia he could not have done the above. He got two wrong

I have mixed feelings about today, I feel bad enough about our situation but feel so sorry for the carers, that are not listened to and their situation much worse

The appointment roughly took 15 mins if that

That was more or less it. Thank you for letting me rantx


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[esmeralda]

I'm sorry the GP has left you in this uncertain situation Beth. You obviously feel there is something wrong and I would think that is a much better 'test' than the one the doctor did.
My husband was always good at those tests and the gerontologist he was seeing because of frequent falls airily told him there was no problem after I had expressed concerns. As other people have explained very well you cannot make assumptions because dementia can take so many forms. While my husband was at the Falls Clinic the senior neurological OT carried out BADS tests - this measures the executive function of the brain. He scored only 25%, which explained so many things. The OT said the doctors often did the memory tests and told people there was no problem, then of course they were upset with her when she had to tell them there was. My husband was eventually diagnosed when he had a brain scan.
Does your husband have other problems besides asking you repeated questions? Eg, problem solving, being able to follow sequences to carry out simple tasks? I know I had gradually taken over doing so many things without really realising how bad he had got.
Hope you can get some help, maybe from another GP.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[Beth56]

Today I had to have a lump removed off my shoulder, The GP who did the surgery was the Dr my husband visited with Oh, I had thought how am I going to tackle this, the Dr brought the last visit which was on Monday. I had thought of writing but decided against. I said that I could not see the point of those tests, as they could not give a true assessment in 10 mins. He said they were not ideal but often showed up issues. I said I know something is going on, but I could not speak honestly and freely in front of Mike, after further questions, he said this certainly puts a different light on things, so OH has now been referred on. Feel much better now that OH will be properly assessed


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