Sometimes people got confused and they try to diagnose too earliy with suspicion. For example, my Mom almost got dementia and the doctor warned her no more mini-stroke or dementia. So this means she is ok now. But my sister made the error to judge her to say oh, she got dementia because of the food she picked! (She thought eating sweet stuff is dementia! But my mom loves sweet stuff and she eats everything also.)

I think early detection is very confusing and thus people tend to ignore it because it is quite hard to really tell the difference. You don't want to be too suspicious or accusing. Maybe that is why most people have troubel to diagnose early. Early diagnosis is done through behavior analysis and this is tricky at times. No doctors can really tell what the habits their patients have and it is hard to tell. For example, my father-in-law's doctor wrote that he took a shower at night at that time in the document. The fact is he didn't. It is hard to really find out what is going on in the person's personal life. Sometimes people lie in the behavior verbal test...

We have to be really careful with early detection. Don't want to be too paranoid!

Nina

Carol Bradley Bursack, Health Guide

10/31/08 6:31pm

I agree, Nina. If I got tested on my math, I'd likely be put on medication! That's why people should be tested against themselves, not the general population. If someone is losing ground in a place where they were once very good, it means more than if they can't count backwards or some other arbitrary measure. A certain amount of common sense should enter the picture, before we panic and run for a test to see if we are developing dementia. I also suggest specialists to people who do think they may be having problems. And second opinions don't hurt either.

Carol