What Your Neurologist Wants to Hear at Your Next Alzheimer’s Appointment

Preparing for your neurology appointments in advance can ease worries and ensure you cover your most important points and questions. Make this prep easier on yourself by starting a week or two before your visit is scheduled, and recruiting a trusted loved one to help.

This list, developed in collaboration with David Perlmutter, MD, a board-certified neurologist and author of Brain Defenders, can help you go into your appointment with confidence, advocate for your needs, and leave with the information and clarity you deserve.

• View yourself in the driver’s seat of your care. "Think of yourself as an active participant, not a passive recipient of treatment,” says Dr. Perlmutter.
• Know that you can make meaningful changes. Cognitive decline does not mean you are powerless. "The trajectory of brain degeneration can be changed. There are meaningful opportunities to influence the speed at which this decline occurs,” says Perlmutter.
• Think holistically. Go into your appointment expecting to discuss more than your medication regimen. This is an opportunity to take a thorough look at your Alzheimer’s management, including any lifestyle habits that can help or harm you.

• If you’ve noticed changes in your mood. “Anxiety, apathy, and depression are often underreported but critically important,” says Perlmutter. They can be signs of changes in the brain. These symptoms can also impact your quality of life, and you deserve to address them.
• If you’re having trouble “down there.” “There are issues like urinary incontinence, bowel irregularities, and sexual dysfunction that patients sometimes feel embarrassed to report, but these can be early and meaningful neurological signals,” says Perlmutter.
• If you need them to clarify or repeat something. There’s no shame in asking your doctor to rephrase something so it’s easier to understand, or explain something again. It’s in your best interest — and your provider’s — that you leave the appointment with all your questions answered.

Those questions should include some, or all, of the following:

• A Sense of Clarity A positive sign, Perlmutter says, is that you or your caregiver and your provider have a shared understanding of what’s going on — even if you have yet to find a solution to every challenge.
• Feeling Heard Your appointment likely went well if you leave feeling validated and seen by your doctor.
• Leaving With a Plan “Your treatment plan should be more than just a prescription, but an actionable, and therefore empowering, road map that includes lifestyle, diagnostics, and follow-up,” says Perlmutter.