Dementia or Normal Cognitive Decline?

[@saethman]

Strange that this video doesn't have more views... I got a referral to a neuropsychologist at the age of 40(ish) since I started to forget things (I'm the one who noticed, not people around me - so that's a ... hmm, green flag). The main warning sign for me, who doesn't know this stuff, was that I started to have to consentrate on easy math-tasks (math has always come very easy for me). I also had other signs like forgetting how to drive "home" (I had moved a few years earlier so it wasn't a route I had taken for a while, but I had taken that route every workday for more than a decade, so I found it strange that I couldn't remember it anymore). The neuropsychologist did his test (yes, I know how to draw a clock and tell time, I know which day it is, what year we're in etc) and said that he had one patient like me every year: someone who was used to having a very good memory, and got anxious when their memory changed. Although that is true, I don't know what is "normal cognitive decline" (and the test he did didn't even compare myself with myself a few years back, if only compared myself to the average population - or maybe compared to average population of 70 year olds). I did get a brain scan as well, with no results, but my father's alzheimer wasn't detected by his brain scan until years after his diagnosis (which was set based on a spinal fluid test compared with his (and my mother's) subjective description of his cognitive decline). And after I did the scan I learned that my father's father, and his father, both had alzheimer as well - so it seems to run in the family. I work with claims management (not sure if that is the term in English - I'm referring to changes of the scope of our contract, and getting paid for that) in the construction industry, and one defining trait of me (in terms of work) is that I could recall pretty much all the claims we had forwarded on whatever project I was assigned to, in great detail. Not any more though - now I'm pretty much a slave of my notes and often (?) can't even recall having sent a claim even though it might not have been that long ago. If any, my memory tricks me - I might THINK that I remember details on a claim, but when I check my notes they might give the opposite answer to what my memory claimed. Unfortunately I am still not sure what to expect in terms of "normal cognitive decline" :( [chance has it that I am going back to a neuropsychologists for other reasons this fall/winter, so maybe I'll get a new assessment and a new scan and see]

[@PsychologyWorksOfficial]

Thank you for the full comment. It's hard to predict which videos will get seen more often. Good luck to you.