Question by ambience212: is it possible to recieve an alzheimer’s diagnosis with a week of seeing the your doctor?
and before seeing a neurologist? before having an mri/pet scan? Before having blood/urine/csf etc tests?
im asking bc a girl i know at uni who has been tryign to diagnose herself with depression, stress and various other conditions in order to get special consideration for our up coming exams, now claims that her 50 year old mother has been diagnosed with alzheimer’s and is trying to get spec. consideration (even though she doesnt study at all). they have no family history of it either.
She also has a history of being untruthful.
Could she be telling the truth? Her mum seems fine, i dont know if the symptoms show immediately…
Most comprehensive answer:
Answer by Bren it is possible, as the first thing they do is a memory test to check for alzheimers if u fail this then this is a good indication of it. however it doesnt always show on a scan. my mother has severe dementia and even passed the tests first of all however she was eventually diagnosed but the brain scan is clear. consultant told us that she has seen people with bad brain scan who are fine and peopple with good ones like my mum who are totally demented. 50 is very young to be diagnosed with alzheiimers and it is called early onset at this age family history has nothing to do with it either we have no family history if her mum has it she will not be able to remember things like her name, address, puts things down and forgets where she puts them, gets the days date wrong (as it thinking its winter when its summer etc) also strange things like putting milk in cupboard tea bags in fridge things like that. hopefully this girl has not made it up as its not something to be taken lightly. sounds like the girl should be getting medical attention herself. self diagnosis will not help in the exams she will need a doctors letter direct to the examination authorities. or similar proof
How about adding your own answer to the comments below!
Take a look at this video about alzheimer’s symptoms and then leave your thoughts below.
Alzheimer’s: Signs, Symptoms, and Stages Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive fatal illness that causes areas of the brain to shrink. The resulting symptoms start with memory loss and other cognitive deficits, advancing to major personality changes and eventual loss of control over bodily functions. with the song by The Verve into the half life as sound trak
A question asked by dotty: How do you get a person who have symptoms of Alzheimer’s to see a doctor, when they are in denial ?
This person displays some of the symptoms of alzheimers, but think that there is something wrong with me and that they themself is behaving in a normal manner. How do I deal with this?
Best answer:
Answer by booey Why don’t you agree to have the both of you checked. If either of you has Alzheimers, the sooner you start medication, the sooner you can stop the progression! God Bless
Maria Shriver and the Schwarzenegger family together at the Walk for Alzheimer’s pre party at Santa Monica’s Bloomingdale. The store gave the $20000 for Project 360 to fight against the disease. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger got there a while later. His security team commented on how hard it is to get him to places, specially a busy store on a Saturday afternoon.
With increasing age a certain amount of memory impairment and confusion can be expected. But Alzheimer’s disease is a more serious loss of mental sharpness and the afflicted seniors have to taken care of in special manner. This ailment causes progressive brain degeneration. The symptoms of Alzheimers disease are typically seen in a person’s late forties or early fifties. Those above 65 have more than 40% chance of having this disease. The disease first impacts memory, there is difficulty in speech and cognition, the person is eventually lost and looses all the sense of being. Ultimately even normal activities like swallowing and eating becomes a difficulty. The disease is really unfortunate to other family members and friends. The mental ability of a parent, brother, sister or friend degenerates to such a level where they don’t recognize anyone. Our former president Ronald Reagan was a victim of this disease.
Caring for the patient is really taxing on the family. There are however many facilities that can take care of AD patients and ease the burden on the family. There are many boarding facilities which are capable of taking care of a person suffering from Alzheimer’s. These care giving institutes are very much like nursing homes, but they do not have the atmosphere of a hospital. But if the patient becomes highly disoriented he may have to be shifted to hospital care.
In case you decide to care for your loved one in home atmosphere itself there are many useful points to be considered. In early stages of the Alzheimer’s disease he/she may be able to perform the common activities though with lot of difficulty. He will very much be aware of the trouble he is facing and respond with frustration, agitation and violent outburst. In such cases you may help him to start the activity like you can help him put the shirt and the first button on or you can help him start the electric shaving equipment.
There will be certain time of the day or night when the Alzheimer’s patient would be calmer and have slightly better cognition. It is best to allocate important chores like consultation with his doctor, bathing or giving food. The awareness, perception and thinking of your loved one with AD may slowly deteriorate. He may suddenly become averse to his favorite food. He may even become suspicious of you and become violent. Do not be discouraged by such behavior.
It is also very important that there is a special safe environment at home. Any extension chord wire or a simple rug may not be a cause of alarm to normal person but a AD patient is more likely to trip and fall on it. Keep away all items that have the potential to harm him and others like sharp items, knives, guns, alcohol, medicines, toxic cleaning substances etc. Keep them away safely locked and keep the key with you. Ensure that in the bathrooms there are no open electric plugs as there is a risk of electric shocks. Please control the water temperature in bath water heater yourself and lock it to a bearable temperature. Many patients have been severely burnt as they are not able to control the temperature.
Each person with the Alzheimer’s disease experiences different levels and stages of deterioration in cognition and functioning. So the care giver should customize the care giving techniques based on above.
For the first time an experimental drug show promise of slowing or halting the disease in it’s early stages. We also hear from Kris Barkowski who is a spokesman for Alzheimers who is affected by the disease at the early age of 53.