As strange as it may seem, the doctor who helped us most was my mother's old general practicioner. He had been confronted with Alzheimers several times in his long career (he is retired now) and had the best advice for us - which at the time we ignored, "place her in a good nursing home!" He tried out the drugs that were available at the time, Aricept and Namenda, and contnued treating her for heart failure and high blood pressure etc.

Mom did get referred to a neurologist for tests that would rule out brain tumors or find evidence of strokes. None of those were present. Now she is in a NH with its own specialist who comes in for regular visits. I think his proper title is a gereontologist, an old age specialist.

The family doctor took a long time to diagnose Mom because he knew her so well and had always admired her spunk and physcal activeness for her advanced old age, but once he realized that she had dementia, he was very understanding and supportive of her and the whole family. He was also my brother's, my sister in law's and my doctor.

Good luck with it. My long drawn out experience with this disease has led to me to believe there is very little a doctor can do - treat certain symptoms, such as hallucinations or hyperactivity or anger or depression - but not cure the disease itself; no cure has yet been found. I think maybe doctors hate to treat a patient they cannot cure. They get frustrated - seeing no imrovement but only further deterioration, just as the families get frustrated.

Martha