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My 81 year old mother's new M.D. in her new state has taken her off the Excelon patch prescribed by her former M.D.  She is now living with my brother after living with my sister for 2 plus years. He is in denial about her dementia, and the new doc says that she does not have Alzheimer's or dementia. Her former doctor did not refer her to a neuropsychologist for testing, yet determined that she indeed is in the early stages of AD. I have many anecdotal examples, as does my sister. My sister and I are very upset with the new doctor taking my mother off the patch (my brother went with our mom to her first appointment since he is the new caregiver) and I want to tell this doc what has been going on. I fear that the more time she is off the patch, the faster the symptoms will progress. What a nightmare! How does one deal with a sib who is in denial?

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You could write the new doctor a letter. You could also ask the old doctor if he would write the new doctor, but I'm not guaranteeing this will happen.

Since you and your sister (two is better than one) both have stories to back up the dementia idea, if you write the new doctor, he or she may reconsider after reading your letter. Of course, this may make your brother angry.

You are right that if she does have early stages of dementia, she may go down hill faster off the medication. It's too bad your brother is in denial. If you can't get through to him, is there a friend who can? If no one can, maybe he will wake up once he sees a few instances of dementia, and realize that she needs medication.

Is there anyone with a Power Of Attorney? There should be if there isn't. There should also be one for health care. You will need this in the future.

Good luck. It may be a waiting game.
Carol
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that excelon patch was killing my father , he lost 30 lbs in one month and all the time havin daihreah . i had the errie feeling about that patch and took him off of it and he bounce back and felt better .
those memory pills or patch doesnt work and it is a waste of money . most insurance wont pay for those . he used to be on namenda too , ins wont pay for those , i didnt see any improvment on those either .
my dad still has a sharp mind and forgets simple things , in fact so do i !
maybe having a new doctor might be a better than the old ones .
they get thier days mixed up or thinkin its all a dream is when they sleep too much . my father always thinks its breakfast time cuz he sleeps too much . all those meds makes him drowsey ,,
i would never put my father backon those patchs , it was killing him slowly .. my mother in law has alz , she too is on meds for that , it doesnt work , in fact i think it took her memory away worst off . her son takes care of her so i dont know what s the name of her meds . she is still taking those meds and id ont see any improvement , i see its getting wosrt ...
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