Is getting an official diagnosis beneficial?

Medication will probably not improve her condition if she has a form of dementia. It probably will, however, stabilize her condition and keep her from spiraling downward at a very rapid pace. Her condition may level out and decline less steeply than if she wasn't taking meds at all. She will still progress toward the end stages, though. Is your Mom normally resistant to taking medications and to other medical treatment?

My mother was diagnosed with dementia by her PCP in January of 2010. He prescribed Namenda. Mom refused to take it because she was in denial that anything was wrong with her. In March of 2013, she was diagnosed as mentally incapacitated.Now that she is incapacitated (cannot make decisions for herself), we have her on Namenda. We had to move her to a senior living community because it was unsafe for her live alone at home. In my opinion, the Namenda has stabilized the progression based on history with my mom....whenever she experiences something stressful in her mind, she would progress. The move was stressful...she hasn't progressed even though she is in late moderate stages of the disease. Getting diagnosed also depends on if you have a DPOA. My mother's DPOA was written up by an elder law attorney...it was written so that my sis and I could not make medical and financial decisions for our mom until she was diagnosed as mentally incapacitated. I do believe that if mom had taken the Namenda back in 2010, she would still be living at her home making decisions for herself.

If a doctor doesn't diagnose your mother with alz/dementia, then how can she get on any meds that might slow the progression down? Yes, she should be seen and evaluated. The sooner she get on Aricept or Namenda the better her chances of staving it off as long as possible.