Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Monday 23 July 2018

More than senior moments: better dementia detection is urged

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE agnosis, stage and progno-
and LINDSEY TANNER sis, he said.
AP Medical Writers PATIENT’S STORY
CHICAGO (AP) — Too few At her daughter’s urging,
people with signs of men- Anne Hunt visited her fam-
tal decline or dementia ily doctor in 2011 because
are getting checked dur- of increasing forgetfulness.
ing routine medical visits Hunt, 81, who once ran a
or told when a problem is Chicago cooking school,
found, says a panel of Al- recalls struggling with
zheimer’s disease experts memory tests involving let-
who offered new guidance ters and numbers that her
Sunday. doctor had her perform.”I
The idea is to get help thought, ‘OK, this is it, I’m a
sooner for people whose vegetable,’” Hunt said. But
minds are slipping — even the test results were incon-
if there’s no cure. clusive and there was no
Though mental decline can diagnosis.
be an uncomfortable topic “We didn’t do much about
for patients and their doc- it,” said Bruce Hunt, Anne’s
tors, the panel says fam- husband, until five years lat-
ily physicians should do a Anne Hunt poses for a portrait in her home in Chicago on Friday, July 13, 2018. er, when her behavior was
thorough evaluation when Associated Press clearly worsening — more
concerning symptoms arise treated for Alzheimer’s had Medicare recently started diseases, including family memory lapses, repeat-
and share the diagnosis been told by their health covering mental assess- history, heart disease and ing herself and forgetting
candidly. care provider that they ments as part of the annual head injuries; pen-and- where to put things.
Patients and family mem- had been diagnosed with wellness visit, but doctors pencil memory tests; im- She was diagnosed with
bers should push for an the disease. aren’t required to do it and aging tests to detect small Alzheimer’s after an im-
evaluation if they’re wor- “All too often, physicians there was no guidance on strokes or brain injuries that aging test showed brain
ried that symptoms might will hear of some symptoms how to do it, she said. In could be causing memory changes often seen with
not be normal aging — the problems. the disease. Imaging tests
difference between oc- TOUGH TOPIC are sometimes used along
casionally misplacing keys Dr. Michael Sitorius, fam- with mental tests to diag-
versus putting them in the ily medicine chairman at nose the disease or rule out
freezer or being confused the University of Nebraska other conditions.
about their function. Medical Center, said deal- IS IT GOOD TO KNOW?
“By the time you forget what ing with mental decline “There’s no pill they can
the keys are for, you’re too adds to the challenge of take to make it go away, so
far gone to participate in caring for often frail elderly some people think there’s
your own care. We’ve lost patients. no point to getting a diag-
probably a decade” that It’s a tough diagnosis to nosis,” but that’s not true,
could have been spent make for many doctors, the National Institute of Ag-
planning, said the panel’s he said, because medical ing’s Silverberg said. “It re-
leader, Dr. Alireza Atri, a Anne Hunt looks to her husband, Bruce, to be reminded if training focuses on “try- ally does offer an opportu-
neurologist at Banner Sun she already added sugar or not to her dough in their home in ing to cure people and nity to plan.”
Health Research Institute in Chicago on Friday, July 13, 2018. Alzheimer’s and dementia Alzheimer’s medicines such
Arizona. Associated Press are not curable.” as Aricept and Namenda
It’s not just memory that He said he gives his older can ease symptoms but
can suffer when mental de- or memory complaints from some cases, it might be as patients mental tests at aren’t a cure.
cline starts, Atri said. patients or their spouse and cursory as asking “how’s their annual checkups — Experts say other benefits
“It’s actually people’s judg- say, ‘you know, you seem your memory?” but that sometimes pa- include a chance to join
ment being off, their char- OK to me today,’” so check The panel was appointed tients or loved ones don’t experiments testing treat-
acter and personality be- back in six months, said by the Alzheimer’s Associa- want to hear the results. ments, resolve finances,
ing off,” sometimes years James Hendrix, an Alzheim- tion and included primary In those cases, Sitorius still find caregivers, make
before dementia is diag- er’s Association science care doctors, aging spe- addresses related issues homes safer and use mem-
nosed, he said. specialist who worked with cialists, nurses and a psy- including depression, safe- ory aids and calendars to
THE NEED the panel. Meantime, the chiatrist. Broad guidelines guarding medication, nutri- promote independent liv-
About 50 million people patient may end up hospi- were released on Sunday tion and whether patients ing. The Hunts joined sup-
worldwide have demen- talized for problems such as at the group’s international should continue driving. port groups and a singing
tia; Alzheimer’s is the most forgetting to take a diabe- conference in Chicago; He said the new guidelines ensemble, hoping that try-
common form. In the Unit- tes medicine because their details will be published are a welcome reminder ing new things would help
ed States, nearly 6 million mental impairment wasn’t later this year. for family doctors to tackle them both cope. They
have Alzheimer’s and al- caught. “We hear stories all The guidelines do not rec- these issues earlier. were better prepared than
most 12 million have mild the time of people taking ommend screening ev- “Clearly ... we could do some. Long before her di-
cognitive impairment, a years to get an accurate eryone. They outline what better,” he said. agnosis, they converted
frequent precursor. diagnosis,” said Nina Silver- health workers should do A diagnosis should never a vintage Chicago apart-
In 2015, Alzheimer’s As- berg, a psychologist who if people describe worri- be withheld out of fear of ment building into two spa-
sociation research using runs Alzheimer’s programs some symptoms. That in- making the patient de- cious homes so they could
Medicare records suggest- at the National Institute on cludes: checking for risk pressed, Atri said. “age in place” with help
ed that only about half of Aging, which had no role in factors that may contribute “We strongly encourage a from one of their daughters
people who were being the guidelines. to dementia or other brain full disclosure,” including di- and her family.q