Can a Blood Test Detect Alzheimer’s? Understanding Types and Early Signs

Join us as we delve into the intricate world of dementia caregiving with guest Nancy Treaster, a certified caregiving consultant, who co-founded Caregiver's Journey after navigating dementia care within her own family. 

Listeners will gain clarity on the distinctions among the major types of dementia—Alzheimer's, vascular, frontotemporal, and Lewy Body—as Nancy breaks down how symptoms differ, particularly in the initial stages, and why knowing the specific diagnosis matters. We also cover what behavioral changes to watch for, as well as the importance of recognizing early signs and seeking prompt professional evaluation. Nancy highlights the latest advances in diagnostic tools, including newly available blood tests and clinical trials. 

Practical advice is given for approaching loved ones who may be reluctant to discuss their symptoms, and the duo discusses the challenges families face in preserving independence, managing emotional decisions—such as driving—and advocating for thorough medical evaluation. 

SeniorLivingGuide.com Podcast sponsored by LivDry & Terrabella Senior Living

Visit and Access the Caregivers Roadmap: The Caregivers Journey

Link to Alzheimer's Association Trial Match: https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/research-and-progress/clinical-trials/trialmatch 

 The background music is written, performed, and produced exclusively by purple-planet.com. https://www.purple-planet.com/ 

*SeniorLivingGuide.com Webinars and Podcast represents the opinions and expertise of our guests. The content here is for informational and educational purposes. It does not necessarily represent the views, recommendations, opinions or advice of Fairfax Publishing/SeniorLivingGuide.com or its employees

Transcript

Darleen Mahoney [00:00:00]:

And today we are joined by Nancy Treaster. She is a retired software industry executive who co founded the Caregiver's Journey with longtime friend Sue Ryan after both experienced the challenges of dementia caregiving for multiple family members. And as a certified caregiving consultant, Nancy's compassion yet frank approach helps caregivers develop the confidence and strategies they need to navigate their journey with fewer surprises and more effective solutions. I'm so excited to have you on this episode today.

Nancy Treaster [00:00:36]:

Well, I so appreciate the opportunity.

Darleen Mahoney [00:00:38]:

Yeah. And you and I were chatting a little bit and what kind of brought you here I think is always, I think people that get in this industry and work in this industry have really deep personal stories which really connect them to the passion that they have, especially in caregiving with folks with dementia and Alzheimer's and other cognitive issues that really affect. I think you've had to have some experience, a lot of folks that really drive their passion. So with you, it's super personal. So share a little bit about that.

Nancy Treaster [00:01:13]:

As you said, I do believe that, you know, having lived it does change your perspective. And I hear that actually from a lot of professional caregivers who care for people living with dementia, they say the same thing. You know, people, dementia, family caregivers particularly want to hear from people who've lived it because it's hard to believe anybody else understands. So my husband was diagnosed and it took a while to get the to get him diagnosed, but he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in the fall of 2015. And about three years later, his father, who we also cared for, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. My father had been diagnosed with Parkinson's many years earlier. He lived with Parkinson's for 25 years and had a little bit of Parkinson's dementia. But I would say the lion's share of my dementia experience came from my husband and my father in law, both of whom we kept at home through their entire experience. So it was quite the journey is probably the best description for both those people.

Darleen Mahoney [00:02:21]:

That that is definitely a lot and it's a lot to handle. And I know that my dad had vascular dementia and I cared for him, but I really, until it happened, didn't understand it. I didn't have a concept of it. And it is like just being thrown in the deep end. There's no shallow end when you start going down that journey. And there's so many different components, the emotional, the physical, the mental. I mean, it's all there. It's not lacking in any of those categories and some are completely different. Than others. And some experiences with folks with dementia and Alzheimer's can be a different experience than another one, how it's affecting them. So I know a lot of people talk about what's the difference between Alzheimer's and dementia, and then also what is dementia? And one of the things that I know that I've heard people talk about, we've never actually talked about this on this podcast, is Lewy Body dementia. So there's several different dementias, but I think overall, and correct me if I'm wrong, there's Almost, literally almost 100 types of dementias out there.

Nancy Treaster [00:03:39]:

They call those subtypes. But there are over 100 subtypes of dementia. Yes. Yeah, there are. The four that you've mentioned already today are the make up the lion's share, but then there's subtypes underneath those as well. So we talk about Lewy Body, frontotemporal, Alzheimer's and vascular. We're talking at the top level. But even with frontotemporal, there's three different kinds.

Darleen Mahoney [00:04:04]:

Yeah, yeah. They just all break down. So that's what makes it just so, like, all over the map. So tell me a little bit about what's the difference between. Between those four major ones that we just talked about.

Nancy Treaster [00:04:18]:

So a lot of it's how it starts, because I will say, towards the end, the later part of the journey, they do tend to all look a lot alike as you get towards the end. So the more distinctive parts tend to be at the beginning and in the middle. So let's talk about Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is somewhere, depending on who you talk to, between 60 and 80% of all dementias. So. And it typically starts with memory issues. And of course, you could say typically, because that's anything's loosely defined. They do say if you've met one person with dementia, you've met one person with dementia, so you can't get too, too married to one thing. But it does typically start with menu. Memory issues.

Darleen Mahoney [00:05:02]:

Right.

Nancy Treaster [00:05:03]:

The second most common type of dementia is vascular dementia, and it does start with confusion, but it also has some memory issues as well, and even some behavioral changes. So it tends to be a mishmash.

Darleen Mahoney [00:05:20]:

You're talking about my dad all day long. Yep.

Nancy Treaster [00:05:22]:

All three of those.

Darleen Mahoney [00:05:24]:

Yeah. He did start out with the confusion. His memory loss. He really. He had memory loss, but as far as he didn't forget who I was until shortly before he passed away. So he did have certain things that he would remember that were very distinct. And I was always afraid that One day I'm gonna walk in, and he's not gonna recognize me. And so that I didn't have for a very long time, which I really appreciated, but a lot of confusion. And then clearly, with the memory loss, it's the more recent memory loss versus the long term. So, yeah, you can definitely start seeing a difference there.

Nancy Treaster [00:06:02]:

A friend of mine's mother has vascular dementia, and she's been doing great. And. And then she just texted me two days ago and said, okay. I walked in the door. She doesn't know who I am. She thinks my father's still alive. She doesn't think this is her house. And I'm like, okay. I mean, they're just a major, you know, level of confusion that. And. And obviously, you know, memory challenges as well. So it is. It's a difficult one for that reason. But it is the second most common. Yeah, the third most common is frontotemporal dementia. It is the most common form of dementia for people under 65. So. And it's. And it goes by. You might see it called frontotemporal degeneration or frontotemporal dementia. You see, it defined both ways. Ftd, that was typically what it's caused and called. But. But believe it or not, it tends to start with behavior changes, no matter what. But those behavior changes may and commonly turn into language challenges, which is called aphasia or primary progressive aphasia. And that's what Bruce Willis has. But it often starts with behavior that you just don't understand. There are a lot of people who, especially since we're talking younger, right. A lot of people who will find themselves in the middle of thinking about getting a divorce because their person's acting. Making terrible decisions, and just not make just, you know, completely logic out the door, and they don't understand it. And the whole behavior changes causes all sorts of challenges. And then something else happens, like the aphasia starts or something that causes them to get a doctor involved, and they'll realize this is dementia, and then you feel terrible for all the behavior changes that you were so mean about up until then. But frontotemporal dementia tends to. To run along those lines. And then Lewy Body, as you said, and Lewy Body is a dementia on its own. It also can. You can commonly have Lewy Body Parkinson's with Lewy Body or Lewy Body with Parkinson's, and then you can have Parkinson's dementia. And those are actually two different kinds of dementia with Parkinson's. Parkinson's is a Lewy body oriented disease. So Lewy bodies are affected in both Parkinson's and straight up Lewy Body dementia. But that often starts with sleep disturbances. That means someone is acting out in their sleep. When your Lewy bodies are challenged, your body doesn't lock up at night when you're sleeping like it does typically for someone. And so you might find yourself acting out your dreams if you're fighting with someone or. My dad would go fishing, and so my mother would say, your father hit me in the middle of the night when. Well, he's fishing, but literally in the bed fishing, you know. And so sleep disturbances is one. Loss of smell is one. Movement disorder in general is often a sign of Lewy Body. And then you hear a lot about Lewy Body with hallucinations. It tends to be one of the stronger hallucination forms of dementia, even though not uncommon for the other forms of dementia to have hallucinations as well.

Darleen Mahoney [00:09:23]:

Right, right, right. Yeah, I know that. That was the one thing that I think my dad experienced. Cause he would be packing to go on a trip and all the different things, and you're like, well, that's interesting.

Nancy Treaster [00:09:33]:

Yeah, interesting that we've decided to go on a trip right now.

Darleen Mahoney [00:09:36]:

Yes, yes, exactly. Exactly.

Nancy Treaster [00:09:39]:

So

Darleen Mahoney [00:09:41]:

there's so many different dynamics to all of that. So really, what are some behaviors to kind of look out for? Or that if you're around someone and you think maybe that there's something going on, or you yourself. Because I do think that you start realizing something's wrong and maybe you don't want to voice it, but. So some of the things clearly are the cognitive failures, which, as we all get older, we all have a level of walking into a room and going, what was I doing here? Or who was that actress back in the day? Or what was the name of that movie? I know as I've gotten older that, you know, it's definitely something that I'm like, oh, shoot. But yeah, so what? What beyond that are things that should be considered problematic.

Nancy Treaster [00:10:40]:

So first, think. One thing that I tell people a lot is think of normal aging as you just described. Unfortunately, when I go through the list of things to look for, people are like, ah, they're panicked.

Darleen Mahoney [00:10:52]:

Right, right.

Nancy Treaster [00:10:53]:

But I think of normal aging more along the lines of, you can't remember the name of your third cousin, and you're thinking, oh, my goodness, I can't remember. I can't believe I can't remember their name.

Darleen Mahoney [00:11:06]:

Right.

Nancy Treaster [00:11:06]:

And then you ask your sister, and she says, oh, it's John. And you go that's right. So if it's, oh, that's right. Or if someone tells you something, what we're gonna have for dinner tonight, and a little while later you're like, now what are we having for dinner tonight? And they're like, I just told you, and you're thinking, oh my goodness, here it comes, right? I'm starting to forget short term memory, right? And they'll say, I just told you we're having steak. And you go, oh yeah, we're having steak. If it feels like they tell you I just told you, and it feels like it's the first time you've heard it and you're like, I have no memory of you telling me, note that to yourself or to them. And I truly believe the sooner you can be honest with someone else, the sooner you can start checking things because then you're, you've got, you've got a buddy to help you align. But if you go, oh yeah, I remember we're having steak, then it's really nothing to worry about. It's normal aging. One of the things that I've heard a lot from the doctors that we talk to is consider what your normal is. So let's say you get lost a lot. And so you get lost. Well, if you get lost and you've been getting lost all your life, don't worry about it. You know, if you're pretty good with directions and you rarely get lost and you're starting to get lost a lot, note that that's, that's a change from your norm, right? You know, if, if it takes you much, much longer. Often one of the first things you see is it takes someone a really long time to get some their job done. If it's a job to get something done, like a cooking, baking a cake. If they normally bake cakes all the time and now it's taking them a really, really long time to bake a cake because they seem to be str. Get through the process. That's something that's not in their normal behavior. And so take note. So it's what's differing from the norm. If they're just not a baker and they've never. And they've never good at baking anything and now it's taken a really long time to bake a cake. So what? We don't care. Right?

Darleen Mahoney [00:13:08]:

Yeah. And I know one thing. Riding in a car with someone that's starting to experiencing that there are really telltale signs because I think that they have. They'll get confused with the traffic patterns and Even if it's been a place they've been to a million times or even remember where they need to go, you may think everything is normal and fine, and then that's an experience you have with them in the car. That, to me, red flag all day long.

Nancy Treaster [00:13:35]:

And think of trajectory as well. Like, if it happened once, so what if it starts to happen on a more regular basis? Then it's worth thinking about. Kind of to your point. My husband had already been diagnosed, so we already knew he had dementia, but I was still letting him drive. That sounds rude. He was still driving, but I was riding with him. I didn't let him drive by himself anymore, and I was riding in the car with him. And one, it was a weekend, and he. I was driving more and more myself, so I was getting down the path of beginning to transition because I knew the driving wasn't going to last forever. It's definitely one of the first things you need to, you know, evaluate for sure. So I'm in the car, and we get up to a stoplight, and there's that moment where our light is red and the other lights are red that, you know, that brief moment where everybody's light is red. And he pulls it in the middle of the intersection to make a left. And of course, we're in the middle of the middle intersection, horns are honking, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, oh, my goodness, this is not good. He clearly didn't understand the traffic lights or what to do, but he saw that everyone was stopped, so as far as he was concerned, he could drive. But I kind of let it, you know, okay, one off. That's the way it is. And then the next day, he insisted on driving again. So, fine. We drove. The exact same thing happened. Turning left, just that quiet moment where everything's red. And he went. Pulled out the middle of the intersection, the horns are honking, and I'm like, oh, my goodness, I think we might have a problem. So just one of those things where one time, you know, happening on a regular basis or the trajectory is something you want to keep an eye on.

Darleen Mahoney [00:15:16]:

Yeah, yeah. And that's such a hard call because you don't want to take away someone's independence because it's got to be, for them, more emotionally harder when that starts happening. And it can become very combative as well. So it's considering those things and really coming up with a plan on how to approach that subject. I think especially with car keys versus anything else. It's just, to me, that was one of the hardest things. And weirdly enough, it went well. He had an outburst when I took it away. But I do think, in all honesty, he had probably had some times where he was fearful in driving. And while he was upset, he was relieved that it was no longer gonna be an issue. So he wasn't gonna have to make that decision. Cause I had to make it for him. So. Yeah. Yeah. So one of the things that has always been something that I look back on and I regret to an extent is I think there were a lot of signs with my dad. And I think people see signs, or if you're experiencing it, you may think something's not right, but sometimes you just want to be like that little kid and shut your ears and go, la, la, la. This isn't happening. And if I don't acknowledge it, it doesn't exist. And I think that the longer you wait on this specifically to go face it head on, if you think it's an issue, you're gonna have a significantly better quality of life and outcome.

Nancy Treaster [00:16:58]:

Yes. And you know, that also applies to the person living with the dementia eventually. So both people often are hesitant to do anything about it. The longer I ignore it, the more independent mom can continue to be or dad can continue to be, because I'm certainly not going to have them declared as they've got dementia now. I have to intervene in their life. Right. And so everyone. And include. And them as well, typically around independence. They don't want to give up their independence. So they're not mentioning that they're having these, these changes. And that's a shame in today's world. And I will only say in the last couple of years, that is the. There's some real reasons to hit it head on that weren't there two years ago. And I do a lot of research on this, and it's amazing what's available today that literally stops the dementia in its tracks for a period of time. And so what I explain to people a lot, my mom and her friends included, is these new drugs that are on the market only work in the early stages of dementia. So if you wait around until it gets bad enough, you miss your chance to leverage some of the drugs that are out there that can reduce the amount of plaque in your brain and proteins and literally stop the cognitive decline for some period of time, years. And, and, and we're in such a interesting time with the drug trials and the research that's being done. If you could just delay five years, the onset of dementia, the amount of progress they're making right now is incredible.

Darleen Mahoney [00:18:46]:

Yeah.

Nancy Treaster [00:18:47]:

And so you want to get in as early as possible, get diagnosed as early as possible, if that's, if there is a diagnosis of dementia and then get yourself in a position to actually leverage some of the drugs that are out there. Most of these drugs are Alzheimer's drugs because that's where we've made the most progress. But remember, that's 60 to 80% of dementia. So get out there, get tested and then in, in today's world, the test, there's a blood test you can take to see if you've got Alzheimer's.

Darleen Mahoney [00:19:18]:

Yeah. And I, I could be completely wrong, but I know back when my dad was diagnosed it was an mri. So you had. And that was where the diagnoses came from. I don't think there was a blood test. I mean, that would have been so simple because dragging him in for an MRI was a battle. I literally had to trick him to get him in there to have that done because he was absolutely not interested in that. But I think a blood test, that would have been so much easier.

Nancy Treaster [00:19:45]:

Yeah. And it might have been a PET scan instead of an mri. But anyway, it could be.

Darleen Mahoney [00:19:51]:

I thought it was an mri.

Nancy Treaster [00:19:52]:

It could have been an mri. In today's world they do. You can do a spinal tap, you can do a PET scan and the blood test has just come out. I think it was just FDA approved either last summer or the summer before. So that's very recently.

Darleen Mahoney [00:20:06]:

Yeah.

Nancy Treaster [00:20:06]:

That's incredible. Now it's not always covered by insurance, so. And it's only, I think the last time I looked it up, 2 to $300. So it's, it's expensive for a lot of people, but not so expensive that you probably, if you really are concerned about your, about your health, not so expensive that you shouldn't consider spending the money. And there's a lot of legislation right now to try to get it where it's covered by Medicare.

Darleen Mahoney [00:20:39]:

Yes, yes. Hopefully that, that's something on that. Medicare prescriptions and things like that that I think that they're adding new prescriptions to in the next couple of years. Hopefully that's something that they consider. It's just kind of a no brainer to me.

Nancy Treaster [00:20:55]:

Let me add one thing about that though. You know, I, because I, A lot of people talk to me about this and what they should do. And if it's a concern, one of the options that you have is to find a research trial near you on Alzheimer's or dementia. And you can do that by going To I find the easiest place to do it is go to the Alzheimer's association website. They've got something called Trial Match, and you can go out to Trial Match, and you have to put in there a little bit of information, and then there's even a telephone number you can call and someone will help you find a trial in your local area. And the reason I'm suggesting that is if it's too expensive to pay to have the test yourself, a lot of people don't want it on their medical record. Yet. If you go as part of a research trial, you'll get the test. Maybe not the blood test, maybe a PET scan, but you'll get the test and they're paid for by the research trial. And then you can. Then you can decide if you want to continue with the research trial with whatever they're doing. A lot of these research trials are taking the drugs that are available today and just figuring out how to give them to you in a much more consumable way. So instead of getting an iv, you would get a shot because they're experimenting with giving a shot for the same drug. So anyway, if it's concerning, you know, in terms of paying for it, look into a research trial. And all of that is paid for. And it's a lot of tests that. That come at no charge, which is nice.

Darleen Mahoney [00:22:22]:

Yeah. And we'll put the link in the description to Alzheimer's. I think it's ALS.org I always tell

Nancy Treaster [00:22:29]:

people.org and there's a Trial Match page. We can link them directly to that. Okay.

Darleen Mahoney [00:22:33]:

Oh, that's fabulous. Well, include that as well. So I love that information. That's not something that I ever really thought about is like, looking into the trials. But I do know that there have been so many new trials going on and so many medications and things like that that are going to be hopefully more helpful in the future. As the rate of dementias and Alzheimer's continues to go up in this country, the diagnoses are getting more and more each year, it seems. So

Nancy Treaster [00:23:03]:

I did a simple trial. To be. To be fair, I went to one of the. I called one of the research firms near me and frankly, simple aging. But I was concerned because of the, you know, you can't remember your third cousin's name and, you know, whatever. And when you walk in the room or you're doing laundry and like, you know that that evening you walk by the laundry room, you realize you started laundry that morning and you're like, what happened? But I happened to find a Small trial that was simply cognitive test and the blood test. So I did the cognitive test, which was someone asking you questions and such, and I did the blood test and they're literally, we're just trying to build a database of what, what your results were on the cognitive test and the amount of plaque, if you had any in your blood. And so it was, there was no drug research, there was no, you know, year long research trial or anything. It was that simple. They happened to have that research trial going on. So I just encourage people call the research lab and find out because it could be a very, I mean, it was a two hour situation, it wasn't anything.

Darleen Mahoney [00:24:09]:

Right. And I think the biggest message to hear is early, early, early.

Nancy Treaster [00:24:15]:

Exactly. Huge message, huge message. We're back to where you started. It's the opposite of what you think. I want to avoid, avoid, avoid. And instead you should be running towards this because there's so many great things today that can help.

Darleen Mahoney [00:24:28]:

Yeah, absolutely. So this is my question and this is kind of a recommendation or what you would recommend if you do have someone that you think might be showing early signs and is like not happening. So what are some ways you can kind of layer in that conversation with them to get professional help and advice if they're not wanting to go seek it to themselves?

Nancy Treaster [00:24:54]:

It is tricky and this is one of the most common challenges people talk to me about as well. It's like, I'm really worried about my mom, but I'm quite sure she doesn't want to hear anything about it. So first, just because you plant the seed doesn't mean you have to come get everything to a conclusion in one conversation. It is potentially dementia, and dementia is a slow moving disease. So it doesn't all have to happen at once, number one. Number two, find something if you can, that leads it into it. You just had your general practitioner appointment and you talked to your general practitioner about your cognitive health. Didn't they say they have an appointment coming up and have they thought about talking to their practitioner about it? Aunt Mary just moved into memory care or my friend's mother just moved into memory care. And that got me thinking, you know, we should probably have a conversation and make sure we know where everywhere I am as well as where you are on, you know, cognitive, on our cognitive health and so on. I'm meeting with my financial advisor today or next week and one of the things I want to do is start having a conversation about who's going to be my power of attorney if something happens and I can't manage my finances myself. Have you thought about those kinds of things? And how do you feel about your cognitive health? And then you really do have to, at some point, say, if you can't get them to open up and say, I'm starting to be concerned, then you have to cross the next bridge, which is, you know, I'm starting to. I've seen a couple of things that concern me. Everything I know is right now is that if there is a cognitive challenge, sooner rather than later is the best time to address it. Because there are so many drugs on the market now that can help slow cognitive decline. But you have to be in the early stages or you missed your chance. So what about. Let's go talk to the doctor about it and see if. And there are other things that could cause cognitive decline. You can have a uti. It looks like. It looks like cognitive challenges. A UTI does in an older person.

Darleen Mahoney [00:27:04]:

Yeah. That was the first thing we were tested with. They said, let's rule that out. And then we go from there.

Nancy Treaster [00:27:10]:

Exactly. UTIs can just cause confusion, is the net. You can have a B12 deficiency. You could have a medication. I've had plenty of people tell me, you know, my. I took my mother. We got in there and we figured out it was a medication that she had just been taking or a medication she'd been taking for a while that was actually showing symptoms that looked like dementia. So also, the other thing you can tell your loved one is, look, there's so many other things this could be. We really need to get to the doctor and see. See if we can eliminate some of these other potential problems.

Darleen Mahoney [00:27:39]:

Yeah, because there is that as well. So I think that's always a good note that just because you're having some concerns, don't let that fear instill in you until you get that diagnosis or until you rule it out. Because there are other things that can cause it. And other medications, 100% can affect you in so many different ways that you may not even realize it's happening. Cause it could be something that's more of a slower process, but then you start noticing, well, I can't remember this or some other things. And once you go off the medication, it completely changes or your body even adjusts. I think sometimes that you start those initial side effects or whatever. So I think there are so many opportunities to rule it out before you rule it in. So that's a positive. On that note, so some of the doctors. I know that one of the things that we just kind of chatted about is maybe going to just your regular family doctor and maybe if you can go with that person that's somewhat not wanting to acknowledge it and just ask that doctor some various questions. Because I do know that some folks, if a doctor says it, it makes a world of difference than if you say it, you know, I mean, a doctor, they don't question. So if the doctor says, well, you know, that's concerning, let's get this tested, they may be more inclined to get that additional testing done than if you, you know, say it, say it, say it, say it. I mean, at least that's been my general experience. I mean, others may have different.

Nancy Treaster [00:29:14]:

So true, though. Sad but true. You know, the other thing, there is so much work being done right now to educate general practitioners about cognitive decline. I will say it's a, it's a bit hit and miss. So if you get your loved one and you go to the general practitioner, you do need to make sure that they are taken, that they take it seriously.

Darleen Mahoney [00:29:43]:

Yes.

Nancy Treaster [00:29:44]:

One of the suggestions I've heard is take a big yellow pad with questions written on it and examples of what you're concerned about written on it, so that the general practitioners or doctors in general often have a certain amount of time allotted for this conversation and they're in there to do, say, your normal, you know, annual checkup. I'm making that up, but, you know, whatever. And you need to make it look like that you came prepared and that you're not leaving until we go through this laundry list of questions. So that's number one. Number two, if you don't feel comfortable that they took it very seriously, keep the pressure on. Or if they agree, yes, we should, we, we will recommend you to someone and then you don't see it happen. Keep the pressure on because it is, it is something that's just starting to really make its way through the general practitioner community. And at worst, if you can get your loved one on board and you don't feel like the general practitioner is pushing things the way they should find a neurologist. That's the second best thing you can do, is just push on to a neurologist.

Darleen Mahoney [00:30:57]:

Yes. And I do know, I believe some hospital systems have specifically geriatric care doctors and then that is all that they take care of is geriatric patients. They're super specialized in everything. Senior. I know that that's something that would be a great look for in your area. I know we used to have a sponsor here in the state of Florida, Parish Healthcare, where they had the senior consultation center, and that's all they did with seniors. And I think it's such a benefit to have something specialized because seniors are very different. I mean, they've, you know, you have pediatricians for children because they're growing and they need different, you know, different diets. They have all the different things. Seniors are somewhat the same way. I feel like, I feel like you really have to start watching your nutrition. You have to cut down on your sugar, you have to continue to exercise, but exercise safely. All the things I. Getting older is not like. I mean, it can be a party, but you have to. So, like, you know, because your health just completely changes than when you're in your 20s and your 30s and you're just generally in good health. So I think it's great to have those opportunities. So, completely off topic, but food for thought. So what, did you have anything else that you wanted to share with us? Cause I feel like we covered a lot today, but this is such an. I could talk about this all day long because it's just such a huge part of a lot of people, people's lives. And I am seeing, even in my age group where I'm seeing more and more of my friends that are now experiencing that with their family, with their fathers, with loved ones. So now I'm starting to see that coming up as just a dinner topic or a social media topic amongst, you know, my age group. And I'm not going to tell you my age, but I'm getting there for sure. So I know that it is becoming something that is more and more prominent in conversation.

Nancy Treaster [00:33:04]:

I agree. I will say if you do get a diagnosis, there's. There's mci, which is mild cognitive impairment, and then there's early stage dementia. So you probably would get a diagnosis of one or the other early stage dementia with a type of dementia, obviously.

Darleen Mahoney [00:33:21]:

Right.

Nancy Treaster [00:33:22]:

And mci, you know, don't freak out too much. I think you need to continue to support your person's independence as best you possibly can and just realize 80% chance something's, you know, this will turn into dementia at some point. But you need to not overreact. With a diagnosis of dementia, there is a lot of opportunity, like I said, to potentially take drugs to slow the cognitive decline. And there's all sorts of grand ideas and things that can happen. So don't freak out. Just, you know, start to problem solve is probably the best thing to say. So there's all you can possibly do.

Darleen Mahoney [00:34:00]:

I was gonna say, I apologize. I didn't mean to interrupt you. There's also lifestyle changes that can absolutely help as well, because there are some lifestyle changes that can kind of increase it as well. So learning what those are, I think is super important. I know specifically just going back to the vascular that, like, there would be some. He would be perfectly fine for days, and then something clearly would happen, and then he couldn't remember. Like, it went bad really fast. So, like, he's using the computer, da, da, da, da. And then all of a sudden, the computer use stops because he can't figure out how to get on it. That same day, he couldn't remember his PIN code for his, you know, debit card and all the things. And it's like something happened literally overnight, from being able to do these things to not being able to do all these things within a flash, Literally a flash. So, I mean, I think that those are some things as well. All righty. Well, thank you so much for joining us. I wanted to make sure that we provide the link to the Caregiver's Journey as well. So do you want to let us know what that is, and then we'll also include it in the description? Sure.

Nancy Treaster [00:35:09]:

So I'll give you two seconds. Caregivers journey. We are focused on dementia, family caregivers. So after you do have a diagnosis, if you want to get a clean idea of what, what should you be thinking about? We do find a lot of people sort of, you know, get overwhelmed and don't know what to focus on now, what can wait until later? So go to thecaregiversjourney.org We're a nonprofit. All our resources are free. We have a podcast where we talk about lots of different topics. But I would start specifically at the Caregiving Roadmap, and it's an interactive page on our website that says right after the diagnosis, step one, do this. Step two, do this. Step three, do this. You click on the number, and it has hot links to exactly where you need to go. And so we walk you through how to create that foundation for support as a primary care as a metric family caregiver. What are the first six things you should do? What order should you do them in? And how do you create a foundation that then the rest of your journey can work off of so you can be as effective as possible? So check out the Caregiving Roadmap. I think that's a great place to get information.

Darleen Mahoney [00:36:23]:

I love that. I wish I had had a roadmap. I was like. I was in space. I was doing, like, circle in the moon of crazy town. So I definitely. I definitely appreciate that and also share us the name of your podcast.

Nancy Treaster [00:36:37]:

It's called the Caregiver's Journey. Pretty straightforward.

Darleen Mahoney [00:36:39]:

Oh my gosh, it's just like us. SeniorLivingGuide.com podcast. We didn't make it too fancy. So there you go. All right.

Nancy Treaster [00:36:45]:

Perfect.

Darleen Mahoney [00:36:45]:

Well, thank you so much for joining us. I absolutely enjoy chatting with you today, Nancy, and look forward to continually maybe having a conversation with you every now and then as well.

Nancy Treaster [00:36:57]:

Happy to. Would love to give more updates.

Darleen Mahoney [00:36:59]:

Yeah, absolutely. Love it, love it, love it. Well, thank you so much for listening to the seniorlivingguide.com podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, we have over 120 podcasts available anywhere you listen listen to music. Please download and subscribe anywhere you listen to a podcast. Again, thank you for listening.