It has happened again. Another study that probably cost millions of dollars concluding what we already knew - "These findings suggest that research into early detection of cognitive disorders using only episodic memory tasks, such as word lists or paragraph recall, may not be sensitive to either all of the earliest manifestations of disease or the most rapidly changing domain."
On the home page, under Breaking News, I put a link to an article that discusses the idea that "cognitive declines other than memory" may decline years prior to AD diagnosis.
Check it out. Wondering what other's opinions are.
Duh! I've also noticed that pigs don't fly, the moon isn't made of green cheese, wishes aren't horses, and Humpty Dumpty couldn't be put back together. For cryin' out loud.
The first time I noticed that the patients knew things the doctors didn't know was in 1965. I noticed that it took many months after I went off birth control pills before I got pregnant. We talked in the waiting room. What happened to me was common. It took all of us at least 6 months to get pregnant. They tell the girls that these days.
Another time was when there was an epidemic of pneumonia in pre-schoolers. That was back in 1969 when most kids did go to kindergarten but not to pre-school. Again a couple of us talked in the waiting room. Her kid got sent for an x-ray. I pointed out to the doctor, when it was my turn, that I NEVER called him in the early morning call hour, but had been on the phone with him every few days for months now. My daughter got an x-ray too. She also had pneumonia. He ended up sending all his patients for x-rays and a bunch of them had pneumonia, so he called the health department about it.
So the caregivers notice things the doctors don't know? What a surprise!
I guess this is as good a place as any to tell this story. As you all know, I have been a dieter since I was 4 years old. Maybe 3. There isn't a diet I haven't tried; there isn't a diet I haven't failed at. There isn't a Dove chocolate that I would pass up under any circumstances. So one day, I'm driving to work, and I heard on the radio about a revolutionary study that was just completed. The government paid MILLIONS for this study. They studied WHY some people lost weight on a particular diet and others DID NOT LOSE weight on the same diet. Same diet, same food. Why did some lose weight and others did not? Their conclusion - The dieters who did NOT lose weight................CHEATED on the diet! I almost drove off the road when I heard that. They could have paid me HALF the amount they spent on that study, and I would have taken 5 minutes to tell them that. Millions of dollars; years of study, to find out that people who don't lose weight cheat on their diet!!!!!!
People always ask 'when did you first notice he had AD?' etc. When I say he always had it, few believe me, but the 'things' that were happening were not just memory loss, there were things said and done that weren't all that troublilng, just a bit off kilter. People would say things and I'd dismiss their comments as 'it's just his way.' I didn't 'see' anything at any time I could put my finger on--and then there came a time when it all just came tumbling out and I realized that something had been going on for some time--but what the 'something' was I could not clearly explain. I've told doctors & others how it was over and over, but no one listens. So now someone did a study of what most of us have lived thru anyway, big deal, very impressive! File it with fluoride, aluminum cans, electric wires, lack of exercies, not enough mental games--but don't listen to those of us who have been on the front lines year after year after year. What do we know!
When you are lucky enough to find a Dr. who values what you know--hang on to him/her. I am triple blessed: a neuro-psych for DH who considers me, the caregiver, the most valuable tool in his care of DH. A PCP who'gets it' and readily tells us when he can/will treat us and when he wants a specialist to do so; and a Dr. and Clinic who consider me "part of the team" in addressing my CMT---they bring to the table their technical knowledge and training, and I bring the inside knowledge of living with it. So much better than dealing with the "Experts" who dismiss what you say because you 'have no qualifications.' What disrespect.