My mother’s doctor thinks she’s fine. Any advice?

I always gave a note to the receptionist to give to the doctor before he saw Mom. He as a neurologist. I would go this way first. If he still thinks nothing is wrong see a neurologist. He can order tests.

Missing whole blocks of time could be TIAs. When these first started with my father he showed very few other symptoms and would have easily passed the standard short memory test. Several family members didn't believe it was happening - until they were around Dad enough to realized he had forgotten a conversation or event that included/was important to them. Dad had high blood pressure - often 200 over 160 range - that went uncontrolled because Dad disliked the side effect of blood pressure medications. Diagnosis would only come after Dad had a small stroke that impacted his motor functions enough to be undeniable. At that time, the brain scans revealed at least 8 previous TIAs that resulted in death of some brain regions; the doctor stated there could have easily been another 30 that didn't result in enough damage to show on the scan. Vascular dementia had taken hold of the damaged brain.

I have known three other individuals who didn't have high blood pressure but did have blockages in the arteries in the neck that diminished blood flow to the brain and caused memory and vision black/brown outs. Two had surgery to bypass the blockages and had a decade+ of normal life. The third died following a major stroke before agreeing to surgery.

I urge you to write a letter to her doctor and discuss these possible correctable problems to your mother.

Have you had a discussion with her doctor? Have you thought mom may be lying to you? Does mom have POA in place? A HIPPA release?

You can always call her doctor and tell what you know. Because of patient confidentiality doc will not be able to tell you anything, but you have done what you can do.

Is this doctor a geriatric specialist? How old is mom? I see mom is 64 which is quite young for dementia.

Can you find another doctor? This one does not seem like a good match for the situation and then you would at least have a second opinion which could possibly bring some relief.

Insist she goes to Neurologist