Waiting...

[Rachael81]

Hi all, thanks for reading my post.

A bit of background: my mum had her first TIA in Feb '15 and almost immediately I noticed a change in her and described it to her GP as behaviour I'd seen in my grandma in her later years (80s with diagnosed dementia) the GP said it was just the TIA and she'd get better. Cut to September when her memory was causing issues and the same GP did a basic test and referred her to our local memory clinic. This GP has left the surgery and another we've seen since has mentioned they suspect dementia.

Anyway back to the reason for this post... How long did you wait between referral and appointment? We're currently at 16 weeks from the acknowledgement letter from the hospital arriving to today with nothing more, I chased at 12 weeks and was told to allow another 8 weeks. We're both struggling to deal with the not knowing; as an only child my mum is a single parent it's quite a bit to cope with and I hope diagnosis will result in knowledge and support from health care and social care.

 

[Cat27]

Welcome to TP

I think each area has different waiting times.
I got more information & support here than via the memory clinic.

My dad has vascular dementia & has lots of TIAs. https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=161

 

[Tin]

Each area does seem to be different. From voicing my concerns to new gp [ my mum moved out and into a new area ] and getting old gp notes transferred took first 5 weeks and then gp did a quick test and said mum probably had some form of Dementia and would refer her to a consultant, although we received a letter fairly quickly, we had to wait three months for her memory clinic appointment and then another 2 weeks for the scan, then it seemed like an age to get written confirmation of what we all knew. So total 5 months. Ring hospital/memory clinic regularly to see if they have any cancellations.

 

[AlsoConfused]

Hi Rachael

You naturally feel it's important to have a diagnosis and a greater measure of certainty about what's going on and what the future's likely to be. That's the attitude I had at the beginning of Mum's illness 7 - 8 years ago.

Later on you may feel - as I do now - that each individual's experience of dementia is so different there's no certainty to be had ... and no point in looking for any.

 

[chick1962]

Hello Rachel all together it took about 12 month for my husband to get diagnoses of early onset Alzheimer's . There are certain scans and tests they have to do and they take some time. Ultimately the mental health team want to make sure it's the right diagnosed as its impact is huge . Hugs xxx


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[mumsgone]

waiting

Hi, my mum had her first serious tia in jan 2013. From then on we had concerns re her memory etc. She was diagnosed with vascular dementia in oct 2013. She passed away on august 31st 2015. All i can suggest to you is that you make every second count with her. There will be wonderful times to have as well as some very distressing times. The diagnosis whilst important is nowhere near as important as you and your mum.

 

[Pickles53]

My mum waited approximately 2 months after GP referral for a visit by CPN then another 3 months to see psychiatrist at memory clinic. He didn't do anything other than confirm diagnosis of mixed dementia and prescribe Donezepil (lasted one week before she had to come off it because of side effects). Next memory clinic appointment would have been 12 months later.

My expectation, like yours, was that getting the diagnosis would be the 'gateway' to all other support kicking in. How naive and wrong I was! It made literally no difference. So my advice would be, don't delay if there is any help you need now. You don't need a diagnosis to apply for AA, get a needs assessment and carers assessment from SS or anything else.