Why Diagnose and Treat Memory Loss, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Dementia?

A 72-year-old woman comes into the clinic at the urging of her son. She has noticed some difficulties finding words for the past 6 months, but denies problems with memory or other aspects of her thinking. Her son reports that his mother has had memory problems that began five years ago, and have been gradually worsening. He notes that his mother used to have an excellent memory, and would keep her calendar, grocery, and other lists in her head. Now she needs to write everything down or she is totally lost. She used to send out birthday cards to her grandchildren every year, but over the past two years has either forgotten to do this or sends them out at the wrong time. In addition to memory problems, he agrees that she also has word-finding difficulties, and often has trouble finishing sentences. From a functional standpoint, she is also having difficulty. She is living with her husband, and he has gradually been taking over household responsibilities that she used to do, such as going to the grocery store. She continues to cook, but there are now just a few meals that she prepares, and these have become much simpler than they used to be.

The first question that needs to be addressed in this book is: What should be done about this 72-year-old woman? Why is it important to diagnose and treat memory loss? Although the answer to this question may seem obvious to some, in the current healthcare climate it is very reasonable. There are four basic answers to this question: (1) to help the patient, (2) to help the family and other caregivers, (3) to save money, and (4) to plan for the future.