Becky, you have to be your own advocate. My husband seems to be where yours is. Diagnosed with “more than mild MCI”, he has trouble in the memory category, recalling information and retrieving information. He failed very badly in these areas. All the other tests on the neuro- psych evaluation, he got outstanding and superior resukts. My husband is well read, all the classics, has travelled the world, is a great my story teller and can have conversations with people, being the center of conversation with great wit. No one except our immediate family (5 kids, 3 spouses know of his condition).

Regarding the medical field here are the steps I took with him. Mind you he fought me for a year and I had to enlist 3 kids to help me.

1. Visit a recommended neurologist. She gave him about an hour’s worth of tests, and determined after that, that he was displaying short term memory loss. She referred us to a neuropsychologist who gave my husband a very challenging test called the neuropsych evaluation. This test took 4 hours, and was split in 2 appointments, 2 hours each.

It was determined that my husband had memory issues, short term, MII, anxiety and exhibited some depression. He does not have Alzheimer’s. He was recommended to go on Aricrpt, but with the side effects, and the fact that it really doesn’t work, he/we decided not to go on it. He had a brain MRI showing some white stuff in the frontal lobes. He also has heart disease which the psych neurologist told us plays a most important role in memory loss and dimentia. In fact we should get the heart disease under control first. Deprived oxygen to the arteries of the heart deprived the oxygen getting to the brain.

So, we continue to eat very clean meaning only grass fed meats, pasture raised eggs, no seed oils, no grains or wheat except some gluten free pasta, black rice (low glycemic index), lots of dark green leafy vegetables, berries such as blue, black, raspberry, no alcohol, plenty of water, 1 cup organic coffee a day, oily fish such as mackerel and wild Alaskan salmon. No bread, except sourdough once in a while, grass fed butter, Extra virgin olive oil, avodacos, avocado oil and coconut oil, all organic. We rarely have any sugar or cake, muffins, cookies.

We don’t eat fast foods, bacon, ham, pork or nitrates, nothing that causes inflammation in the body.

We don’t smoke.

Next iscexercise - he walks at least 7-10,000 steps per day, stretches 3x per week and light weights for arms.

He take 3 pharmaceutical supplements for brain health, two from Designs for Health called Brain Vital, (Nootropic Brain Support) and Annatto-GG 300 (medium chain triglycerides) and Body Bio PC Liquid for mental focus, brain function, and Cellular repair. These 3 are for the Brain.

There are several others for heart health, and antioxidants.

The neuropsychology also recommended he see a therapist a few times a month, for anxiety/depression, which I learned goes in tandem with MCI especially anxiety. He takes a depression medicine daily and anti anxiety when necessary.

All he f our money goes to eating healthy food and supplements 😐

I am not saying your husband or spouse has to do what mine does. I’m only telling you what my husbands plan is. I have noticed a positive change recently, but still asks me same questions over and over and he tells me same stories over and over. I handle pretty much everything financial, pay bills etc in house.

Our calendars are sinc’d so we don’t over book. Today I finally typed out how to retrieve a Venmo as I’ve had to do it with him for past 8 months. I wanted him to learn.

In addition, he does the NYT crossword puzzle every Sunday and has lunch with a good friend twice a month and talks and laughs on the phone daily with him.

We play board games, watch movies, the Yabkees together, I cook and he cleans the dishes and throws out the garbage. We try to see our kids or grandkids weekly. We go out from time to time with friends for dinner.

He also was recommended to take some visual therapy which he starts soon because it supposed to teach him how to recall and retrieve with visual memory.

We go back in 6 months.

For myself, Becky, I also speak to a therapist twice a month because I don’t speak to anyone about what I’m going through every day and she is wonderful. I play the piano and work from home. Next week I’m going for a facial. It’s very important to treat yourself as you are the caregiver even if it means going for a manicure or pedicure, because you need to feel good yoyrself as you go through the process of caregiving.

I remember my husband as a very strong, masculine, virile man who did and took care of everything and it saddens me to watch how fragile he has become. Sometimes sad, anxious, angry, he can recall stories from the past, but I watch this man’s mind sometimes slipping away and it feels so scary and sad. But I won’t give up trying to help him as best I can, while I can. He is 72, a very young 72.

I wish you the best and hope some of this helps you!

Xo Rolett1