We recently changed my 89 year old mother’s General Practitioner to a Geriatric GP. Her improvement wa
s instantaneous. My mother walked around telling everyone that she felt incredible and did not know why. I was puzzled too as the only thing that her new GP did was take her off most nutritional supplements and the one-a-day vitamins she was taking. It turns out that one-a-day vitamins and supplements are not good for older people. Who knew? Older people need a special doctor just like children need a pediatrician.
The other recommendation was for Neuropsychological testing. My mother immediately said “NO WAY!”. She equated the psychological part or the name with her being considered crazy or some other name people give to older persons. After a lot of back and forth she relented and endured the three hours of testing. Two weeks later we got the results, no dementia and no Alzheimer’s only some ‘cognitive decline’. Needless to say my mother was walking on air with the diagnoses as she had expected to hear something else.
What the diagnoses meant was that she was responsible for her well being. The doctor could now take steps to keep her active and they suggested volunteering, exercise, and diet changes to get her weight down. It is now important for her to stay engaged in the community to keep her mind going. She was older but not incapable so get out there and stay involved.
UNC – What is a neuropsychological evaluation?
Wikipedia – Neuropsychological test
Medscape – Neuropsychological Evaluation
