How to Get Dementia Diagnosed

Most people are likely to encounter dementia at some point in their lives – whether that’s caring for a loved one with dementia or experiencing the condition themselves. Indeed, nearly 1 in 10 Americans aged 65 and up have dementia, and more than 2 in 10 have mild cognitive impairment, according to findings reported by CNN.

Why does knowing about dementia matter? Because an earlier diagnosis can help the person with dementia stay safe and even potentially stop or reverse their decline in thinking skills.

So, how do you get diagnosed with dementia in the US healthcare system? Let’s talk about the steps to diagnosis, plus what a person with dementia can do after a diagnosis to stay safe and independent for as long as possible.

What is dementia?

Most people are familiar with dementia in the form of Alzheimer’s disease – the most common type of dementia. But in fact, dementia is an umbrella term describing many different conditions. Usually, dementia begins with minor difficulties in thinking. It will then progress to more severe stages where many aspects of a person’s functioning are affected.

The National Institute on Ageing says that dementia can involve difficulties with:

• Remembering

• Thinking and understanding

• Reasoning and judgement (such as making sensible decisions)

• Managing emotions

• Speaking, reading, and writing

• Movement

It can also include symptoms like:

• Paranoia and hallucinations

• Wandering (walking away from home or from caregivers and getting lost).

It’s easy to see how dementia can become dangerous to an older person’s health and wellbeing. They may stop keeping themselves or their homes clean, forget to turn off the stove, or become lost outdoors in bad weather.

Early diagnosis is crucial so that protections can be put in place before these dangerous incidents happen – whether that means hiring a cleaner or caregiver, putting child safety locks on the stove, or getting a dementia tracker with GPS that can locate an older person who has wandered away.

Types of dementia

There are many medical conditions that can produce dementia, but here we’ll discuss a few of the most common:

• Alzheimer’s disease is undoubtedly responsible for the majority of cases of dementia. Scientists don’t fully understand how the disease works, but we know that built-up proteins in the brain play a part.

• Vascular dementia is related to problems with the heart and blood vessels. People with this type of dementia may have tiny strokes that damage their brain.

• Mixed dementia is a combination of the above two types of dementia.

How to get assessed for dementia

For most people, talking to their primary care physician is the best way to get dementia diagnosed. Your doctor will likely ask questions or do tests of their own. They might also make referrals to other doctors who can do further testing.

One thing your primary care doctor may do is try to rule out other causes of dementia symptoms. For example, elderly people who are experiencing periods of confusion may assume they have dementia – but this is not necessarily true. Dementia-like symptoms can also be caused by factors such as:

• UTIs

• Depression

• Medications that are causing confusion as a side effect

• Sleep apnea

• Seizures

Your primary care physician might also refer you to a:

• Geriatrician (doctor specializing in treating older people)

• Psychologist or psychiatrist

• Neurologist

What kinds of tests are involved in diagnosing dementia?

Just as there are many different types of dementia, there are many different causes of dementia. Some dementias, like Huntington’s disease, are genetic – inherited from your parents. Others can result from things that happen to a person during their life. For example, CTE is a form of dementia that occurs after repeated head injuries. And many dementias seem to result from a combination of genetics, lifestyle, and other factors.

There are numerous tests that can be used to diagnose dementia, depending on the type of dementia the patient may have. These include:

• Spoken question-and-answer tests

• Pen and paper tests

• Tests of bodily responses like reflexes

• Blood tests

• Genetic testing

• Scans of the brain

One common, basic test for dementia is simply drawing a circular, analog clock with numbers and hands. A person who is unable to draw a clock with twelve numbers in the right places will be flagged as needing further diagnosis.

What happens after a dementia diagnosis?

Receiving a dementia diagnosis can be difficult. But it is a good thing, in one way, because it allows the person with dementia and their loved ones to take important actions for their safety and health.

After a dementia diagnosis, your doctor will tell you what you should do. In some cases, they may prescribe medications or lifestyle changes.

It’s also important to begin making plans about what you’ll do as the dementia progresses. A person in the early stages of dementia may want to do legal paperwork so that a loved one can make decisions for them later on.

Another crucial factor is making your home dementia safe. Advanced dementia often causes a person to see the world differently. For example, they may perceive a dark rug on the floor as being a hole, so they won’t step over it. They may also need brightly colored contrasting room fixtures, such as toilet seats, to help them identify what they are looking at.

Additionally, don’t forget to ensure that you or your loved one with dementia can continue enjoying life and activity for as long as possible. That’s important for physical health and mental health and wellbeing, too. Just make sure you put safeguards in place so that you or your elderly loved one is safe while doing the things they love in the early stages of dementia. If they’re going for a pleasant walk or out and about at the mall, make sure you can locate them if they need help or get lost.

And that brings us to our next point …

Wandering and safety considerations

When you or a loved one have dementia, you’ll also want to put protections in place against wandering.

Many people with dementia have the urge to leave their homes or to wander away from caregivers when they are in public. This is called wandering. It may happen because people with dementia don’t remember where they are, because an interesting sound or sight has caught their attention, or because they are hallucinating and believe they need to go somewhere else.

To prevent wandering away from home, caregivers or family members may need to take steps like disguising the front door or moving keys away from the front door. They should also ensure that they can locate their elderly loved one during an episode of dementia wandering. This is especially crucial during extreme hot and cold weather, as a person with dementia who is wandering will likely be unable to care for their own health, get warm, or cool down if needed.

How can you make sure you’ll always be able to find your elderly loved one if they’re wandering or if they’re just lost while out and about? You’ll need a simple dementia tracker device. This is a pendant with GPS tracking that lets you see your elderly loved one’s location via an app on your phone. The SureSafe Dementia Tracker even comes with geo-fencing, so you can get an alert sent to you if your loved one travels beyond the area you designate as safe.

People with earlier stages of dementia will appreciate the tracker’s easy-to-use SOS button. With just one press, they can call family for help if they’re lost or if they’re facing an emergency. This button is great for seniors who are beginning to find it difficult to use a phone. There’s no chance of getting confused with all the options on a cell phone – just press and hold the button, and you can speak to your loved ones directly through the dementia tracker pendant.

But you can also turn this feature off for older people who are in later stages of dementia. For them, as well as for seniors in earlier stages, a crucial function of the device is automatic fall detection. Every SureSafe Dementia Tracker comes with sensors that are constantly assessing whether the alarm wearer has fallen. If the device believes it has sensed a fall, it will call for assistance all by itself – no need for the person with dementia to do anything at all.

SureSafe protection for seniors diagnosed with dementia

Dealing with dementia isn’t easy. However, the right next steps taken after diagnosis can help protect seniors with dementia and let them enjoy life.

At SureSafe, we’re dedicated to ensuring vulnerable people can get help in an emergency. That’s why our simple-to-use, affordable, and effective dementia trackers and safety alerts have been able to assist customers for over ten years.

If you’ve just experienced the dementia diagnosis process and are looking to protect yourself or a loved one, we’re here for you. To learn more about our dementia tracker pendants, just fill in our contact form or call our experts at 888 540 7193. You can also send us an email at [email protected], use our live chat, or request a call back.