See a specialist

You should never depend on your primary care physician to pick up on subtle changes in your loved on and make a diagnosis of dementia in a routine office visit. My wife is a primary care physician and her time is so limited that she must focus on the complaint brought before her in an individual visit. So unless you go to your regular family doctor with a complaint of memory difficulty or behavior change, it is unlikely they will have the time to pick up on what is happening and refer you to appropriate care. Most primary care physicians know how to initiate care for many memory disorders and dementias, but meanwhile it is important to get referred in to MidAmerica Neuroscience Institute Memory Disorders Center or a similar memory disorder center where you live and begin the appropriate workup to really prove what the cause of the thinking issue is. We do not always require that you be referred in by your primary care physician if you have not been in to see them in awhile or you have changed physicians. If you are concerned right now about a memory problem, you should call and make an appointment yourself at MidAmerica Neuroscience Institute and let us take a look at your loved one. If you yourself feel that you have memory issues or thinking problems, then let me reassure you that often that turns out not to be anything serious if you yourself are realizing it, but occasionally we do find something that we are glad we caught. We would evaluate you the same way we would if you would bring a loved one in. It is important to get those issues resolved and stop worrying about having Alzheimers if you really do not.