Oh the misunderstandings and ignorance that exists among medical professionals.
I wish some national advocacy organization would adopt the project of promoting quality continuing education and training programs on the topic of dementia among docs and nurses. They did not learn much related to the topic years ago in their basic education programs and certainly nothing current.
Hi We have been trying to get a diagnosis sine 2009 and once we had it we were told DH has been in this zone and progressing since at least 2005. One Psychiatrist said it was depression but the Neuro - Phycologist and Psychiatrist we have now just shook their heads and said it is not depression, it's three Dementia's. what a blow and a relief to finally have a name for it. It is a hard one to diagnose I guess as it is so different for everyone.
I've heard "Alzheimer syndrome" and "Parkinsonism" which described certain traits. Maybe this doctor was using those words to indicate 'certain traits', where the patient doesn't demonstrate all the symptoms. Early on, it really is hard to make a definite diagnosis... My DH demonstrated more Parkinsonism traits in the early years, and a year or so later, it was very apparent it was NOT Parkinson's., and they knew it was Alzheimer's. Without actual brain surgery, it is a hard diagnosis in the earlier stages.