One of the most frustrating things to deal with is a doctor that doesn’t specialize in geriatric issues. You take your dad into the office to see the same doctor he has been seeing for years and he puts on the show of a lifetime. He’s charming, flirts with the nurse, tells the doctor a joke. You list the problems you’ve been having:

• Dad isn’t sleeping.
• He keeps saying he has a house just like the one we’re in and he wants to go home.
• He told me some guy came in with groceries and left his shoes by the door. That guy was me, five minutes before.
• He  gets really angry and screams about such small things.
• And on and on.

The doctor looks at you and you can almost see him thinking, “This poor old man’s child is trying to get me to help set him up as senile so the kids can get his inheritance. Look at the way he’s acting. There’s no way he has dementia.”

Find a good doctor who specializes in geriatric care. We were lucky enough to finally find a wonderful one after making several frustrating trips to the family doctor. These doctors know that someone suffering from the first stages of dementia or Alzheimer’s can have completely lucid moments and can seem absolutely normal one moment and go out of control the next.

Posted by on 01.23.2007 • Caregiver Support