How To Rule Out Dementia?

Posted on Wed, 11 Nov 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 Answered on

Tue, 1 Dec 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : My husband's primary doctor says he has dementia, but he hasn't been diagnosed by a specialist. I know he has it also, but he refuses to go to a specialist or to take medicine. Sometimes when he feels things are out of place he gets angry with me saying I did something with it and I had better get it or fix it. He hasn't gotten physically violent though. What can I do?

Answered by Dr. Shafi Ullah Khan (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Needs evaluation and management accordingly.

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for asking

I read your question and i understand your concern. Dementia is not a disease. It is a symptom of many diseases and present as affecting memory, thinking and social abilities severely enough to interfere with daily functioning.

Your husband needs evaluation to find out the cause like alzheimer's disease , vascular dementia, lewy body dementia, huntington's, parkinson's, frontotemporal dementia, reversible dementias like infections, immune disorders , nutritional deficiencies, subdural hematomas and brain tumors etc.

Your husband needs a complete cognitive and neuropsychiatric evaluation and some brain scans to sort it out. They will give some medications like memantine or cholinesterase inhibitors that will help in delaying the progression of dementia.

You need to counsel him, persuade him to go to a hospital, and let the doctors evaluate him. Stay home and resisting workup would bring no good.

I hope it helps. take good care of yourself and don't forget to close the discussion please.

Regards
Khan

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar