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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Does it matter? I am pretty sure my mom has dementia but since there aren’t really any medications that have definitely shown to help or any treatments what’s the point if a diagnosis? 
There a cognitive tests you can give your mom. I gave my mom one I think was called the Montreal cognitive something. I give it to her every six months and unfortunately can see the decline. It’s the one where part of it is drawing a clock set to a time like ten minutes past 11. [/quote]

I already posted, but since this was a point of contention with one of my siblings who thought like you, I feel the need to say more. Dementia can lead to some pretty terrible behavior. You want the person to be able to maintain social connections. Some people just become more difficult and self-centered with aging regardless of dementia, however, with dementia you could see that or a wide variety of other behaviors. If caregivers/family members/friends/medical staff know the person has dementia they will likely be more understanding than if it's just a person becoming really rude with age. If mom has a little explosion at her best friend/caregiver/driver and the person knows it's dementia, well then there is a whole toolbox of ideas to use to de-escalate. It's not personal. If mom is  just a jerk and cannot hide it as well, people will just want to distance themselves. Think of it like if a dear friend had a brain tumor and started being rude to you, forgetting anything new you shared and she did strange things. You would care. You would be understanding. You would research how to respond. If your friend didn't have a brain tumor and behaved this way and everyone around her insisted she was fine, you would assume it was personal and distance yourself. Yes, people distance themselves from those with dementia too, but often they are willing to give it more of a try and they are more empathetic until it just becomes unbearable. Let people have an illness to blame so they can still show kindness and love to your parent.[/quote]

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