Teri Sellers
PebbleCreek Alzheimer’s Support Group is available for residents who have a loved one with Alzheimer’s or dementia. We normally meet twice a month—a breakfast social and a support group meeting. However, we will not meet for breakfast in June, July, and August.
Breakfast will resume in September. The support group meeting on the third Saturday will continue all summer. Our goal is to provide support and information to families that are caring for a loved one with dementia.
Have you ever wondered why so many people with dementia are not diagnosed earlier in the disease process? What we see as the ‘early’ stages of Alzheimer’s are often the middle stages due to delayed diagnosis. Diagnosing dementia and its type is challenging.
People go to the doctor when something hurts or for regular physicals. Your physician will maintain a baseline on your weight, cholesterol, and heart. Even our eyesight, teeth, and hearing are checked regularly. But most providers do not check out your cognitive status regularly. As a result, most people go undiagnosed for years until the symptoms are very apparent by a loved one or a crisis develops.
The Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) is the most common tool for assessing the severity of a person with dementia. It can provide a brief, objective measure of cognitive function. It can be used to screen for cognitive impairment, to estimate the severity of the impairment, and to document cognitive change over time. Your primary care physician may be able to administer this short and effective test in their office. This test is a 30-point test used to measure thinking ability, also known as cognitive impairment. The MMSE tests multiple cognitive domains, orientation, repetition, verbal recall, attention and calculation, language, and visual construction. It is often the first step towards official diagnosis.
This test is available online and many spouses and family members who have seen symptoms and are concerned have used this test prior to seeing a physician.
No single test can diagnose dementia, so doctors are likely to run a number of tests to help pinpoint the problem. They will evaluate and measure thinking skills such as memory, orientation, reasoning and judgment, language skills, and attention. This is generally done by a neurologist.
Recently biomarkers have become available to make a more accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, which is the most prevalent form of dementia.
If you are not a member of our group, it is easy to join. You are not alone. I want to share helpful resources and information with you and add you to our email list. Our support group is an excellent way to learn more about the journey that is dementia and a wonderful way to meet others who are going through the same journey as you. Your information is always safe and confidential. The benefits are priceless. Please contact me, Teri Sellers, at 602-793-0299 or [email protected].