Preparing For A Memory Specialist

Diagnosing a memory problem is often a detective problem. You can help yourself and help your physician help you, if you give him more of the clues. So I suggest that you, and if possible someone who is close to you and who knows you reasonably well (a spouse, good friend, or grown child) help provide the necessary information to your doctor.

What type of doctor should you go see? Sometimes people want to go directly to a memory specialist. But generally you should go to your primary care doctor first. Although your family practitioner or internist may not be an expert in memory itself, you will still need a basic medical check up, and assurances that there are no problems with the rest of your body that could cause memory loss, before you see a memory specialist.

How does the doctor check your memory for problems? How your memory is checked will depend upon what you complain about, and what problems your physician perceives. Memory checking should at least include an interview about what the problem is and if possible, from both your point of view and that of others close to you.

Testing of memory and related functions can take from five minutes to two hours or more. Not only should memory be checked, but also other mental functions as well. These may include vocabulary, arithmetic ability, your ability to draw a set of figures, and the like. These tests will give your doctor a sense of your skills, and can help determine if you have problems in areas other than memory. This is important for diagnosing conditions such as Alzheimer's, since Alzheimer's disease usually affects more than just memory.

Generally speaking, the longer the testing, the more reliable and accurate it is likely to be. In most clinics, you will find that a single visit that includes two to three hours of testing is usually both necessary and sufficient for giving an accurate clinical diagnosis, to the extent that is possible from a single visit.

Memory testing might be done through the offices of a neurologist, psychiatrist, or clinical psychologist with special expertise in neuropsychology. Medical interpretation of the results of memory testing, however, requires a physician. This could be your own primary care provider, specialist in geriatric medicine, a neurologist or psychiatrist. What matters most is whether the physician has experience with memory disorders in general and with the particular kinds of memory disorders that you might have. This may well be the physician who specializes in Alzheimer's (since serious memory loss can be Alzheimer's disease). Sometimes, it takes the concerted efforts of several physicians and other medical care providers, working together, to adequately understand an individual's case and give him or her the best possible advice.

No matter who you see, be prepared for the fact that it may not be possible to have a definitive answer on your first visit. Although the visit will undoubtedly give you more information about your condition, it may be necessary to wait a year or more to see if anything objectively changes with your memory (either up or down). Keeping track of changes is usually very helpful for diagnosing the specific problem you are having.


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