For many people, they may not ever get a diagnosis of dementia, or the actual

process of getting a diagnosis of dementia is delayed months or even years.

In this video, I wanna talk about three common reasons

this might happen, and it's.

Good to understand these reasons and understand that for many people the

diagnosis is delayed or doesn't come because it can allow you to better

advocate for your loved one, where you can actually go to the provider and let them

know, like, I know something is going on.

I know something just isn't right.

And I would really love a thorough, comprehensive

evaluation to make that happen.

So I'll go over the three reason.

I'll go over how you can advocate for your loved one if you find

yourself in this position.

And if you do find yourself in this position, you are certainly not alone.

Now, it's important to know that this video was not about

advocating for a dementia diagnosis.

I don't think anybody truly wants a dementia diagnosis, but it's advocating

for your loved one to get the right evaluation to figure out what's going on

and what can help, because there could be another condition that's causing.

Thinking problems that's causing the behavioral symptoms that you're seeing.

There are many different dementia lookalikes that can present like

dementia, but might not be dementia at all, and they're totally treatable,

and so we wanna figure that out whenever we know as the caregiver.

, something is not right here.

Okay, so what are the common reasons why a dementia diagnosis might be delayed?

The very first one is that they are of a young age, and when I mean young

age, I mean below the age of 65.

Okay, so most cases of dementia happen in individuals who

are 65 years old and older.

So whenever somebody is younger than 65 years old, they could still have

dementia, but for them, the process of getting the diagnosis is often delayed.

Now, the diagnosis of the condition of dementia, it is

only given after everything.

Is ruled out.

That's true for anybody of any age.

It's considered a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning everything else has been excluded.

So when somebody who's not of the typical age for dementia presents

to the healthcare practitioner, they are definitely considering

all kinds of other things.

Before they would consider dementia.

Because of that, younger people who have this condition usually have a longer time

to wait before they're given the diagnosis or before the healthcare provider.

And the healthcare team comes to the conclusion that this is in fact dementia.

Reason number two, why a diagnosis is often delayed is because the

person doesn't have any memory.

So in this situation, the person presents with really great memory, and memory

is not a requirement to have dementia.

In fact, you can have totally great memory and still have dementia.

So a lot of times the initial contact when you're trying to get a dementia

diagnosis, Or I should more clearly state you're trying to figure out

what's going on with your loved one's.

Thinking you're often gonna go to a primary care provider and they

might do a very quick screener.

It's usually 30 questions and they might give your loved

one, three words to remember.

And when your loved one remembers those three words, or seems to

remember the healthcare provider, it could be easy for that healthcare

provider to think they don't have.

Because like I've also mentioned before, most healthcare providers don't have

any specialty training in dementia.

In fact, some healthcare providers, many of them I would argue, don't even realize

that memory can be totally fine and you could still have a dementia diagnosis.

There are actually six different cognitive domains, otherwise

known as thinking areas.

There's six different thinking areas that are evaluated when we're looking

at dementia, and only one of those areas has to meet impairment in order

to meet that part of the dementia criteria, to have the diagnosis.

So somebody could have perfectly fine memory and they have one

of these other six areas impair.

that could qualify them for a dementia diagnosis.

So if all the healthcare provider did was ask them to remember three words

or give them a short little 30 question questionnaire and they did fine, it

doesn't mean they don't have dementia.

And that's where a more comprehensive, thorough evaluation comes into play.

And just as another plug here, Anytime somebody is given

that little 30 question item.

Screening that's never intended to diagnose dementia, that's just

intended to screen and see if somebody needs to be further evaluated.

Okay, onto reason number three, why a dementia diagnosis

might be delayed for someone.

Hair blazer.

My phone ran outta storage space, so I had to switch over to my computer.

So here I am now to finish this video.

Okay, so remember how memory is only one of six cognitive domains that

are looked at whenever a diagnosis of dementia is being considered.

One of the other areas is language abilities.

And so think about this.

Think about your loved.

Going into a healthcare provider's office and they're able to have a conversation.

They're able to understand what the healthcare provider is saying, they're

able to follow along in the conversation.

It's pretty easy in a short appointment to look like everything's okay when

the language abilities are okay because they're following along.

And so similar to reason number two, when somebody's language abilities.

Are pretty intact.

It's really easy during that short visit to look like everything's okay,

and so then that might also be a reason the diagnosis is delayed because the

healthcare provider might be thinking, whatever you are expressing, your concerns

about the healthcare provider might be quicker to come to the conclusion that it

must be normal for their age, or there's really nothing to worry about because

they seem so fine during that short.

In fact, have you ever had this experience where you go to the healthcare

provider, you bring your loved one there, and your loved one seemed totally

fine during that short appointment?

Have you ever had that happen?

I am guessing for many of you, the answer is yes.

You can leave it in a comment below so everybody can see how common

this occurrence, and when the healthcare provider is only relying

on that brief snapshot of how the person looks in front of them.

You might have to advocate even further.

To get more comprehensive testing.

Here's the big takeaway.

If you truly have concerns about your loved ones thinking and you know

something is happening, even though during the appointment they seem

fine, and the healthcare provider might be thinking, this must be normal

for their age, you could actually ask for a more thorough evaluation.

You could ask for a referral to a neur.

Or to a neuropsychologist for further evaluation to

see what is really happening.

Again, this isn't to advocate for a diagnosis.

We're not trying to get more people diagnosed with dementia, but we are

wanting to make sure that if something is causing some strange symptoms

you're noticing at home or something is causing some brain fuzziness or unclear.

We wanna figure out what is actually going on so that if we could

treat it, we want to treat it.

So now I'm curious, how long do you estimate it took from the

moment you realized something was off with your loved one?

How long did it take before you actually got an official dementia diagnosis?

Right, and a dementia d.

includes things like Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia,

frontal temporal dementia, vascular dementia, all these different kinds.

Right.

How long do you think that timeline was?

I'd be really curious.

Put it in the comments below.

We could see how long everybody was waiting.

Or are you one of the many caregivers who reach out to me and let me know

that you still do not have a diagnosis?

even though you are sure your loved one must meet the criteria, you are not alone.

If that is you as well.

Now you might be wondering why in the world would somebody

even want a dementia diagnosis?

Why would somebody want to advocate for them to go get this testing?

That's a really great question, and I will give you multiple reasons and next week's.

Video about when a dementia diagnosis is given, how that might be able to help

you and your loved one in the future.

So if you don't have the bell icon turned on, you can click the little bell

icon on your screen and you'll get a notification when that video is ready.

And if you want a more in-depth training on how to care for somebody with dementia

without the overwhelm, dread, and confusion that so often happens, there

is a free training you can sign up for.

It's more in depth and the link is in the description below.

Sending you love.

Keep up the great.

Also, Nico gets a belly rub for every person who subscribes from this video.

So if you haven't already, click the red subscribe button.

It's totally free.

And Nico says, thank you very much.