Interesting question. I, like most people my age, had lapses in memory. Where are my keys? Where did I put my purse? What day is it? Common and nothing to fret about, right? When I couldn't remember which was the hot and the cold tap in the shower though, I started to worry a bit. But, friends and family assured me that those things happened to them all of the time. Hubby was referred by our PA to a neuropsychologists for testing and I questioned why our doctor was sending him. "Because I asked", he replied. When his test results came back as being having cognitive memory decline, I asked my doctor to set up a referral as well as I thought my symptoms were worse.
A few days before my appointment I had a bizarre thing happen though that made me think I was right in having fears. I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and couldn't find my way out. We had a small bathroom and I couldn't find the door handle. I kept turning around until I wasn't even sure where the door was. I finally found it and crawled into bed. That's when I realized that I had forgotten to open my eyes.
The time came. After one day of filling out tons of paperwork and answering lots of questions from the doctor, and another day doing about 4 hours of testing. I was ready for a return trip to get the verdict. I knew I had not done well. Everything was difficult for me to do. I have a Master's Degree.... I am not a stupid person.... I was a teacher for many years..... I ran a school office for many more years.... yet, I knew I was in trouble.
The doctor himself opened the door to his office. I took one look at his face and said, "I have Alzheimer's, don't I?" He looked shocked for just a brief second and then said, "Yes." I think hes was grateful to have someone who didn't argue, cry, deny, plead for a different diagnoses.
He went over my results and pointed out my "failures". For example, I had drawn the time on a clock wrong. Hey, we learned that when we were about 7 years old, didn't we? How could anyone do that wrong. But, there it was, in my own drawing. WRONG! And, on and on it went.
He proceeded to tell me that I needed to play games and that was even more important than friends or family. If anything was easy, move on and find something harder to work on. Find new things to do, see, learn. Do not give in to this. He was very motivating and made me know I could do this. Another thing he said that I have to repeat to others all the time. "Your verbal skills have not been touched yet, so you're biggest battle will be people refusing to accept your diagnoses." How right he was.
Fortunately, we found it very early. Some medications (nothing can stop the progress, there is no cure) will help to slow the symptoms. He assured me that it will be many years before I am, what most people think of as fact, the image of what I thought someone with Alzheimer's was like.
On a lighter note:
With a diabetic husband, and being pre-diabetic myself, I have learned to use Keto style deserts. This is a peanut butter pie made with a chocolate almond flour crust. The filling is cream cheese, peanut butter, fake sugar, and a bit of almond milk, poured into the cooled crust.
I could skip dinner most nights and just go for dessert.
