I am actually planning to go back exclusively to seeing our pcp this month. He's an Internist and my husband and I are both patients. As was commented, I believe my husband's comfort level with seeing someone he's known for years and trusts with his life (his Dad was a patient years ago as well) is worth so much more than what the neurologist can give him. As we all sadly know, beyond the simple AD meds and anti-depressants there is not much more can be done for our LOs. I was trying to find a "better" neurologist or a geriatric specialist (so hard to find), but I think this will be our best option. Especially since I can converse so easily and readily with the pcp whenever I feel the need. Good luck to all of you.

I take my Mom to a Geriatric Dr who specializes in Alzheimers. The geriatric part is the best , he’s much more kind and gives Mom more than the 10-15 minutes most other Drs give.

KLane, we found the same to be true. We took my mom to a neurologist years ago; she wasn't comfortable with nor felt like she needed to see him. So we tried again in 2019; I wrote a detailed letter to the new neurologist explaining why we wanted her help, what my mom's behavior is, etc. Complete waste of time. The doctor gave Mom some verbal tests (who is the president, what day is it, draw a clock, etc.) , said she wasn't cognitively impaired enough (because Mom knew who the president was and was able to draw half of a clock) to warrant a change in medication and dismissed us.

We started with his pcp. I told him about the memory issues that he’d been having. The nurse gave him the clock test and the 3 words to remember test, standard for medicare patients. She also did the 20 questions test after we visited with the doctor. I don’t remember how many he missed, but it was enough for the doctor to order an MRI. At his follow up appointment, his doctor put him on Aricept and referred him to a neurologist, even though the brain changes were minimal and could be just signs of aging. His neurologist referred him to a neuropsychologist at the U of MN. There, he had 4 hours of testing and his dementia was verified as Alzheimer’s, possibly mixed with vascular dementia. His neurologist recently has added Namenda to help with some of the anger issues. I’m only giving him 1 pill a day, instead of the prescribed 2. That, along with cbd oil, seems to be working for now. Unfortunately, our insurance no longer covers that health care system, so we are in search of new doctors for him.

We see a neurologist who made the diagnosis and prescribed medication. Unfortunately, I don't feel that either of the two has offered much hope.