What is the point of seeing a neuropsychologist?
I have commented about this before, but have never asked that question. My 92 year old husband, dx'd in 2019 with mixed dementia, was referred to a neuropsychologist at Yale by the neurologist he saw initially. Ten minutes into the interview, my husband terminated it saying it was insulting to his intelligence and he would not continue. The neuropsychologist tried to get him back in track, but no dice, so we went home. He later called to offer any help we needed and I asked him whether the purpose exam was to help my husband or to advance research. He didn't give me a satisfactory answer about it being a help to my husband, so I wasn't regretful about the termination of the interview. Honestly, the best help we've had is from his geriatrician and especially the APRN in the practice whose mother has Alzheimer's so she knows what she's talking about. And these groups, online and in person. For a condition that can really only be managed, I cannot fathom how a 2 hour interview with someone who has never met the patient, not lived with them 24 hours a day for years, can help. His original neurologist suggested going to the senior center for socialization. My husband's primary care doctor (for 20 years) would have known that he wouldn't have done that BEFORE he developed Alzheimer's, so taking him into a situation like that would only be stressful, it seems to me. Am I being defensive? I don't think so. I do not regret for one minute the way I'm shepherding my husband along this journey, paying attention to where he "is" on any day, hour or minute and adjusting appropriately. I guess it bothers me that caretakers may be being given false hope - that a neuropsych exam will somehow change the trajectory of the disease. Interested in hearing rebuttals to my assessment of the exam. I'm open-minded!
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Welcome, @cbisman. Have you been able to make an appointment with a neuropsychologist?
We joke that the Golden Years are rusty! 😆
I hope you will post and let those of us on a later train (so to speak) what you learn. It is inhumane that we must endure the expense and loss of all dignity to languish for years and years. I’m suspicious that the medical and nursing home industries are being an obstacle to a compassionate end on this country.