My mother is 74 years old. Past medical history is significant for
hypothyroidism for which she has always taken a pill. Starting in
the first half of 2006, she has been experiencing short term memory
loss. Her general practitioner (mis?)diagnosed her with Alzheimer's
and prescribed Aricept, basically telling her it was a part of aging
and there was nothing she could do. Then my father took her to a
well known teaching hospital where a neurologist identified a B12
deficiency for which she has received 7 intramuscular injections.
Apparently she also has "spike seizures" on her EEG, and if we can
ever get her acclimated to Aricept she will be started on Topamax.
She has subsequently been referred to a memory clinic to establish a
baseline on her mental status, and from what I understand she is not
scoring very well on the mini-mental status exam. I read the
interpretation on her CT scan, and it said "micro-infarcts probably
related to chronic hypertention or diabetes" although my mother has
no history of either condition. The CT report also listed a history
of CVA/TIA and my mother does not have a history of that, either. I
had my father contact the neurologist to ask about this, and my
father was told it was "for billing purposes" which does not satisfy
me very much. At this point we have 1.) short term memory loss, 2.)
B12 deficiency, 3.) "spike seizures" on the EEG, 4.) micro-infarcts
on the CT scan which the neurologist says are nothing to worry about
on the one hand, but could explain the "spike seizures" on the other
hand. Now we're in "wait and see" mode as to whether or not the B12
therapy helps, and whether or not my mother has Alzheimer's. But I'm
not completely satisfied that they've ruled everything out! I feel
like we need to explore other possibilities. Does anyone have any
suggestions? Any recommendations as far as what tests should be
performed? My parents are in denial about this, and I'm having to
walk on their egg shells about my mother's memory loss. I don't want
to play "bad cop" but I'm willing to if there's a possibility that
there could be a reversible cause. Has anyone experienced a
situation like this? Thanking you in advance, Concerned in SC.