Caring for Alzheimer's

Posts Tagged ‘neurologist’

In a special segment, Bob DeMarco, a veteran Wall Street executive whose mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and Alzheimer’s expert and neurologist Dr. Mark Brody discuss Alzheimer’s Disease with “Sidewalks Entertainment” host Cindy Rhodes.

Other Alzheimer’s Sites Online

My mother got her diagnosis a few years ago. She has all the symptoms of Parkinson’s except the tremors. She is on Requip and Carba Leva Dova (spelling ?). Although, initially, we thought it helped. However, now it seems to make things worse. We have spoken to the neurologist, but he seems to let it go in one ear and out the other. He upped her dosage. For the first two days, we saw signs of improvement. Then, things got worse.
She had polio when she was a child and we know this has an effect on her. It was in her leg. Her balance is horrible. She falls frequently. However, until Feb "08, she was perfectly capable of caring for herself, unassisted. Then she fell and broke her hip. It has been a huge downward spiral since then.
She has very little to no judgment. She is completely incapable of making rational decisions. She is somewhat forgetful, but not to the point we think she has Alzheimer. However, her father who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, was the same way. He also had dementia. We noticed far more problems with his dementia than Alzheimer’s.
We are certain though he had far more problems as well. They both are very similar in actions. He was 83 when he died. She is 64.
We do constantly remind her of judgment things such as, "mom you can’t have your hands full when you push your walker. You will fall". Or "mom, you have to uncross your legs to get up".
I’ve noticed a severe decrease in physical activity. She fell yesterday and would NOT allow me to help her up. She has VERY little muscle tone left. Her appetite has increased immensely.
When it is time for her meds, she appears drunk. Her eyes roll, she has a blank stare, and is completely immobile. Once her meds take affect, she is back. We have forbidden her to drive because of her lack of judgment. There is so much more detail I could offer, but want to keep it short and to the point in hopes of help. I will answer any other questions. We have no idea what else we can do and are certain with her decline over the last 18 months, she will be bed ridden in less than a year.

Other Alzheimer’s Sites Online

My dad’s Alzheimer’s symptoms are getting worse, including his paranoia that my brothers and I are "all stealing his money", "giving away his hard-earned possessions", making him "take medicine he doesn’t need", etc…. I know that there are new meds being developed all of the time and have heard that there are a couple that might specifically address paranoia. I have a re-evaluation appointment set up with Dad’s neurologist, but wondered if any of you could give me some insight into these meds, in the meantime. Thank you.

Other Alzheimer’s Sites Online

www.themythofalzheimers.com
TheMythofAlzheimers.com is a web site based on the book written by the internationally respected, Peter Whitehouse, MD, Ph.D, and his co-author, Daniel George, M.Sc., a graduate student at Oxford University. Here, the authors support a growing community devoted to humanizing the way we think about brain aging, strengthening the care and solidarity we provide to persons affected by memory loss, and learning how we can best protect our own aging minds and the minds of our children.
book is written by: P
eter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D., one of the best known Alzheimer’s experts in the world, specializes in neurology with an interest in geriatrics and cognitive science and a focus on dementia. He is the founder of the University Alzheimer Center (now the University Memory and Aging Center) at University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University where he has held professorships in the neurology, neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, organizational behavior, bioethics, cognitive science, nursing, and history. He is also currently a practicing geriatric neurologist. With his wife, Catherine, he founded The Intergenerational School, an award winning, internationally recognized public school committed to enhancing lifelong cognitive vitality.

Other Alzheimer’s Sites Online

www.themythofalzheimers.com

TheMythofAlzheimers.com is a web site based on the book written by the internationally respected, Peter Whitehouse, MD, Ph.D, and his co-author, Daniel George, M.Sc., a graduate student at Oxford University. Here, the authors support a growing community devoted to humanizing the way we think about brain aging, strengthening the care and solidarity we provide to persons affected by memory loss, and learning how we can best protect our own aging minds and the minds of our children.
author is :website is wrtten by :
Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D., one of the best known Alzheimer’s experts in the world, specializes in neurology with an interest in geriatrics and cognitive science and a focus on dementia. He is the founder of the University Alzheimer Center (now the University Memory and Aging Center) at University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University where he has held professorships in the neurology, neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, organizational behavior, bioethics, cognitive science, nursing, and history. He is also currently a practicing geriatric neurologist. With his wife, Catherine, he founded The Intergenerational School, an award winning, internationally recognized public school committed to enhancing lifelong cognitive vitality.

Other Alzheimer’s Sites Online

www.themythofalzheimers.com

TheMythofAlzheimers.com is a web site based on the book written by the internationally respected, Peter Whitehouse, MD, Ph.D, and his co-author, Daniel George, M.Sc., a graduate student at Oxford University. Here, the authors support a growing community devoted to humanizing the way we think about brain aging, strengthening the care and solidarity we provide to persons affected by memory loss, and learning how we can best protect our own aging minds and the minds of our children.
the author is :website is wrtten by :
Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D., one of the best known Alzheimer’s experts in the world, specializes in neurology with an interest in geriatrics and cognitive science and a focus on dementia. He is the founder of the University Alzheimer Center (now the University Memory and Aging Center) at University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University where he has held professorships in the neurology, neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, organizational behavior, bioethics, cognitive science, nursing, and history. He is also currently a practicing geriatric neurologist. With his wife, Catherine, he founded The Intergenerational School, an award winning, internationally recognized public school committed to enhancing lifelong cognitive vitality.

Other Alzheimer’s Sites Online

My father in law and his brother were both diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease at about age 63. Their father had died before that age (heart attack) so there is no way to tell he he was affected. Their aunt (fathers sister) was diagnosed also, but at a later age. How heriditary is the disease. I am wondering at what point my husband should consult a neurologist even if there are no symptoms.

Other Alzheimer’s Sites Online

Asperger’s runs in my family. I have it, two of my brothers have it, two of my nephews and my father has it. My father is 70 and has never been diagnosed. He was refered by his neurologist to a neuropsychologist, but only after the neurologist said "you don’t have alzheimers, its probably the combination of your medicines that you are taking." Still, the neurologist sent my dad to a neuropsychologist who ran a series of tests on my dad. I was in his office for the results of these tests and he told my dad that it was the early stages of alzheimers, but that he isn’t making the diagnosis, the nuerologist is. The neuropsych told my mom and dad that compared to the "baseline", he is lacking in executive functioning, fine motor skills, and short term memory. I myself have difficulty with these very things, and my father explained that he has always been this way, with the exception of the short term memory issues. He learned everything by rote memory, he has always forgotten things midsentence, he had learning disibilities, and he has always been a rigid thinker. All of this is similar with me, even I lose my keys and purse a few days out of the week. I mentioned these things to the nueropsych and he said that he "questioned who diagnosed me and the others in my family." I told him four different psychologists, two in Idaho, and two at UW.

My concern is that my father is anything but average to the "baseline" of 70 year old men with the same educational background. Anyone who knows my dad would agree. My father tried to explain this to the neuropsych and he disputed what my dad said. He doesn’t believe in AS, so should my dad be first tested for AS at the University hospital and then worry about the possibility of Alzheimers?

I just have this deep gut feeling about this. I lived with him for twenty years, and the nueropsych got too much wrong.

Other Alzheimer’s Sites Online

I’m a 20 year old Asian with severe anxiety, depression. 3 weeks ago, I talked to one of my uncle in the US. He’s a psychologist and Alzheimer’s specialist. We talked on the phone and explained some of my symptoms:

- Foggy mind
- Difficulty thinking
- There are times when my mind goes blank and I can’t think of anything which lasts for a few minutes
- Forgetting things I was told a few seconds ago (this happens frequently)
- Alzheimer’s doesn’t run in both sides of our family

He told me that depression causes all this symptoms but I don’t want to believe him for some reason.

I’ve spent the whole April "googling" about Alzheimer’s everyday. Now I live in constant fear of early-onset Alzheimer’s and it’s ruining my life. Do you guys think I have Alzheimer’s or just severe HA? Should I go to a neurologist and get a CT/MRI scan? Is it even possible to rule out Alzheimer’s?

Please help me to get rid of this fear. Some advice would be greatly appreciated. I want my normal life back.

Other Alzheimer’s Sites Online

My Dad has Alzheimer’s Disease. Any time he can persuade a kind soul to take him to the bank, he tells the tellers that he wants "all his money". Obviously, this would be a complete nightmare… Legally, he is entitled to his money, but the tellers and bank manager are aware of the situation and have mostly been able to stall Dad, until one of us kids gets there to RE-explain things to him. Once in awhile, Dad has been able to get cash, which he promptly loses. Of course, he believes we have stolen it from him… My brother has financial power-of-attorney. He and I think that the time has come to restrict or remove Dad’s banking privileges. At least we could juggle his accounts around a little bit, so Dad would do as little damage as possible, if he does make withdrawals… We have talked with Dad’s neurologist in the past and he has said for us to just let him know when we think we/Dad have reached this breaking point. Sorry for the rambling story…Any advice? Thank you.
My brother does have power-of-attorney. We have been keeping Dad’s checkboook, paying his bills, etc. for the last few years – since my my died. (Thank God for online banking!) Despite his declining mental capacity – and the fact that we "lost" his car keys, long ago – Dad still manages to "charm" other family members into taking him to the bank, where he can get "paper money"… Of course – to make him feel somewhat in control – we do make sure that Dad always has a small sum of money in his wallet, even if he has just recently mis-placed whatever cash we have recently given him (or we have "stolen" from him…). Anyway, I am waiting for a call back from Dad’s neurologist on having him sign off on the next legal steps, but I would still appreciate input from others who have found themselves in a similar situation. Thank you.
The secod sentence in my edit should read "…since my mom died."

Other Alzheimer’s Sites Online