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Although I am a gerontologist and advocate cognitive testing, I won't have it done for me because I do not want it on my medical records - anywhere.
I know from my experience in the geri field that medical providers, especially those who are less educated in memory and aging issues, will AUTOMATICALLY label an older person and then we are treated by that assumptive label - they tend to stop taking you seriously and brush everything off as "cognitive decline".
It falls into mental health status and the stigmata for mental health issues is nearly as bad as the stigmata issues as we age.
Replies to "Although I am a gerontologist and advocate cognitive testing, I won't have it done for me..."
You are so right. I hate stereotypes..especially when it is with older individuals like myself. I was taught to treat others as well as I would want to be treated. I think some people like investing their time in social media, what they are interested in and are not flexible. To me that is boring. I like to do a variety of things. Read, cook , go outdoors or just talk with my husband. I have taken him on four trips in the last two year's. ❣️🫂
Oh my ! I had my testing done at Mayo - Rochester and I trust them 100 percent!
Thank you for your wise council. I will be 82 in November and I forget things too. But I seem to remember the important stuff. My encouragement to all is to be blessed and remember “some will miss the privilege of aging”.
That is exactly why I decline the Medicare Annual Wellness Exam. I will not take the memory test. I have watched the change in the way my husband is treated at our internist’s office since his first one 3 years ago. Yes, he was diagnosed with MCI and now has progressed to Dementia, but his doctor was insistent that he needed to stop driving immediately although he was still very competent. Dementia patients should not be lumped all together. They do not all lose their capabilities in the same way. Even now my husband still drives short distances to places he is very comfortable going to around our town. He still drives his tractor. He is a very careful, safety conscious person. His neurologist told me that when I felt it was time for him to stop driving that would be the time to hang up his keys. Had I insisted he stop when his internist thought he should based on a memory test score his life would have stopped having purpose. Yes, every time they give him the memory test his scores have dropped, as expected, but his problem area besides short term memory is communication, finding the words needed to hold a conversation. He is still very capable in many other areas. I have determined after watching him stress out over the annual that I would spare him and myself of that going forward.
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Absolutely true advice