We are thinking my mother-in-law needs the MMSE test again. What can this help with?

MaggieMarshall you hit it on the nose. We don't have a plan yet. So it sounds like this will help in the plan coming together. It is very difficult, she has always had a negative, mean disposition and I think the dementia is making that worse. She does not want help and has battled it every step of the way. She is still complaining we took her car keys three years ago. She never did anything anyway, was never social. Anyway, I could go on all day, it is tough being her whole world. Thank you.

The reasoning the medical community gives for having further tests after having one is to see how fast the dementia is progressing. That tells me it's as Ba8alou says, for the benefit of the care givers.

If you need that information so that you can plan her future more appropriately, then I would have it done. If you already know, as I do, what your plan is when she becomes too much to care for, then I can't see the value. For me, it would be just another reason to haul mom to the doctor's office and spend a half-day.

After I had thoroughly investigated options, I have to say a kind of peace settled over me. When you can say, "Well, when THIS happens, we plan to do THAT," I think you'll find the same thing. Once you've got a plan in place, it simply becomes a matter of when you pull the trigger. How fast it's happening, at least in my case, doesn't make any difference.

Well, to have a good caring facility you have to have money. She gets $850 a month from Social Security. For some reason she retired at 62. Her friends were letting her live in their basement apartment for $275 a month. We built her a mother-in law place in 1997 and moved her with us. We have been taking care of her ever since. She took care of our son, which was a joy. Her memory/dementia started happening about 6 years ago. She is on Medicaid and EBT, which we just did in the last two years. Our son is in college this year, so finances are now even tighter. We are starting to research what Medicaid can help with. It is just my husband and myself, his sister lives in Asheville. She now comes during the summer for us to take vacation. So for now, we have no one coming in yet but are thinking it is time.

Well, I think as she progresses, you get some validation that what you are doing is impossible for one or two people to do. You need three shifts of personnel to look after a dementia patient; three shifts of folks who get days off, coffee breaks, vacations and time away from the madness and the sadness. Are you considering finding a good caring facility, or do you have caregivers coming in?

Thank you ba8alou. We do understand we can't reason/rationalize with her any longer. It is hard not doing that, a daily struggle. We will talk to her doctor as well and request he do this test again. I guess what I was asking is how will doing another test or seeing where she is at with her dementia, help us.

Report to her doctor the changes that you see. Whether she decides to do another MMSE, or more complex neuropsych testing is a judgement call. But if what you are really asking is, will you be able to convince mil that she's got an issue, the answer is no you won't. Not being able to reason from facts is one of the deficits in dementia, in my experience.