Many of us in the Sandwich Generation are dealing with parents in various stages of dementia or Alzheimers, conditions about which little is known. Today, we read in the New York Times that two leading authorities are updating the diagnostic guidelines, as part of a larger trend towards recognizing the illness earlier than ever before.
For the first time in 27 years, the definition of Alzheimer’s disease is being recast in new medical guidelines that reflect fast-mounting evidence that it begins ravaging the brain years before the symptoms of dementia.
The guidelines, to be issued Tuesday by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association, divide the disease into three stages: a phase when dementia has developed, a middle phase in which mild problems emerge but daily functions can still be performed, and the most recently discovered phase, in which no symptoms are evident but changes are brewing in the brain.
The article goes on to explain that this change is also being contemplated in Congress, as a new bill seeks to set new diagnostic codes for pre-diagnosis that would involve consultations and education sessions with the family, since family support is shown to improve outcomes.
Though this is not a diagnosis we are dealing with in our own family, that’s only with a giant “YET”, and steps like these may prove very important as my mother and my grandmother continue down the road…
Read the full article here, and see the NYT’s excellent blog on aging, The New Old Age. And if you have thoughts on the new guidelines, or anything else, let me know in the comments below!
