New Guide: Questions to Ask Your Doctor about Alzheimer’s

BrightFocus Foundation Offers Free Pocket Card

CLARKSBURG, MD—Being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease can be overwhelming, but the BrightFocus Foundation wants to help people take an active, informed role in their health care. In recognition of November’s Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, BrightFocus is offering a free, pocket-sized card of questions—available in English and Spanish—to bring to the doctor’s office.

In addition to reminders to bring certain items to the appointment, such as insurance cards and a list of medications, the card includes key questions to ask, such as:

• Have tests ruled out the possibility that this is normal aging?
• What stage of Alzheimer’s disease am I in now, and what changes can I expect?
• How much experience do you have in treating people with Alzheimer’s disease?
• Is it possible the medications I’m on could be making my symptoms worse?
• What’s your advice for sharing this news with the people in my life?

Cards are available for downloading in English or Spanish, or by calling 1-800-437-2423.

“Alzheimer’s is a devastating diagnosis for families,” said BrightFocus President and CEO Stacy Haller. “Every 66 seconds someone in the U.S. develops the disease, which over time robs people of their awareness, memory, and judgment. It also takes a terrible toll on caregivers. At BrightFocus, we want to provide information that can help during this difficult time.”

More than five million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, a number expected to triple in the next 35 years unless scientists develop new approaches to prevent or cure it.

For Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, BrightFocus is also offering:

• Caregiving Tips for the Holidays, a fact sheet suggesting ways to make the holidays less stressful and anxious; and
• Ways to Participate in the Health-eBrain Study, online brain performance tests that will help medical science assess the cognitive toll on those who provide family caregiving for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.

BrightFocus provides a range of publications, video, and audio on Alzheimer’s topics.

BrightFocus Foundation is a nonprofit organization supporting research and public education to help eradicate brain and eye diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, macular degeneration and glaucoma. For more information, call 1-800-437-2423.