Is there any point in getting diagnosed with dementia?

[EatenTooMuchChocolateAgain]

I foresee a big battle getting elderly relative to go to gp / get assessed for dementia. What can actually be done? Does medication improve things day to day, or does it slow down the decline?

If a relative completely refuses diagnosis/medication what kind of prognosis might they have compared to someone who is given medication?

Has anyone been through this? Thanks 🙏

I dont know about medication, but a diagnosis would make them eligible for a myriad of benefits including attendance allowance and also they would be exempt from council tax (severe mental impairment discount)

I still after both parents died from Vascular Lewy Bodies and Alzheimers apart from extra benefits there is medically..It's just shit.

I have, MiL was very difficult about it and refused to accept/ acknowledge the diagnosis. She does take the medication - she's not really aware of what it is, and I don't think it's making a lot of difference for her (although it's impossible to say....).
However getting the diagnosis has unlocked a lot of services which are available to her in our area. She gets a reduction in council tax, but also access to dementia services such as a choir, day centre, dementia gardening etc. We as carers can access support and advice via the Alzheimer's society or our local dementia hub.
So I would recommend persevering and getting a diagnosis if you can.

Our relatives got attendance allowance and the other things without-obviously not the dementia specific club, but they wouldn't have wanted that anyway. No drugs made the slightest difference.
So sorry.

Whether there is medication available depends on the type and stage. And even if it's a theoretical possibility, not everyone benefits from it. None of the dementia drugs reverse it, they only slow the decline. But as PP have said, a diagnosis opens doors to other help even if no medical treatment is available.

As well as access to support, having a diagnosis is useful when communicating with health and social care - eg when she starts needing carers then “she has dementia” is much easier to understand than “she has some memory problems”.

But none of this is of much benefit to her directly, it only really helps her carers.

maybe things have tightened up over the last 4-5 yrs but my DM didn't have a formal diagnosis but we still claimed attendance allowance etc, and the lower NHS care element for her care home - sorry don't recal the technical name.

Attendance allowance and funded nursing care are based on need, not diagnosis. But having a diagnosis saves a lot of explaining the need on the forms.

My frail muddled incontinent MIL in care has just been diagnosed and started on meds. I do wonder if trying to slow the progress of the disease is always the best option in all honestly. She already received AA.

My husband only got a diagnosis two weeks before he died. After an initial appointment with the memory clinic, several years beforehand, he said he did not want any further contact with them and definitely no "treatment". At the time he was still able to reason things out and surf the Web. He had also had personal experience of family members with the disease. He got attendance allowance. I do not think a diagnosis at an earlier stage would have made any difference for him other than give him something else to worry about.

No diagnosis here.
Gets attendance allowance (higher rate due to night wandering)
Had a care plan and carers 2x per day organised by adult social care.
As others have said, services and benefits (in our area) came because of need rather than diagnosis.
I didn’t see the point of putting them through a diagnosis as this would have been so upsetting and confusing for them.
Now in a care home (self funded) the CH were also not bothered about a diagnosis as they provide care based on need.

I think it’s helpful for family rather than the individual. My mum had, by then, no real concept of what it meant, but as a family it meant it was clear she didn’t have capacity and we could make decisions on her behalf. We could put in her in a home with the proper care, regardless of her disagreement (which vanished five minutes in, as she forgot she lived anywhere else as we knew she would). The meds thing I’m not sure about - do they help, doubt it, my mum was on a ton of them. Given the individual isn’t really capable, they don’t take them unless someone is there to supervise. If anything it just means they live longer, getting progressively more incapable until you are giving pills to someone with no quality of life. Companies making money from people’s suffering. Just my opinion.

As PP have said you don't need a diagnosis to get Attendance Allowance, or to get support/care which is provided on the basis of symptoms and needs.

My mother had a diagnosis of Alzheimers. But my grandmother never had a diagnosis because she refused to see the doctor. It made no difference to the outcome or the support she got.

Diagnosis isn't just a case of seeing the GP. The GP will refer to the memory clinic, and there will probably be a fairly long wait for that appointment. Then the memory clinic will refer for an MRI scan. It doesn't sound like your relative will be amenable to that.

I would focus on getting the relative to accept the help they need.

DM was diagnosed with early stage mixed vascular dementia & Alzheimers at the start of this year. It took almost a year to get to that point.

She's been on Memantine to slow the progression. Has it worked? No way of knowing. She is definitely getting worse.

It has made it easier to apply for benefits - AA, reduced Council Tax, Blue Badge.

Also had a call from a dementia nurse who was completely useless. And promised to email me lots of info (so I didn't take notes on the call) which never materialised.