Throughout the progression of your loved ones condition, it is important that you continue to work closely with your health care team. The assistance of a medical professional can help make sure your loved one is getting the best care possible for Alzheimers disease. While working with a doctor, you can expect a number of changes in the course of treatment as this disease is progressive and brings about a number of changes. This is why it is important to remain in close contact with your doctor and to always be prepared with a number of questions as the treatment plan evolves.
The right treatment plan will take into account your loved ones age, overall health, treatment goals, severity of their symptoms and their current living situation. If you feel as though your health care provider is not taking all of these things into account, it is important that you speak up and ask questions about their plans and about anything you feel as though they are not considering. Here are some other questions that you may want to consider asking when you have the chance to meet with this health care professional:
- What stage is my loved one in and how fast do you believe the disease is progressing?
- What treatment options are available to me and what do you recommend for our individual situation?
- What type of tests are you planning on doing to provide us with more insight on the current situation?
- Will you be able to assess the effectiveness of the treatment that you are recommending? How long will it take for you to determine how effective the treatment is?
- Are you going to monitor your treatment plan for any possible side effects?
- What side effects should we be on the lookout for with this current treatment plan?
- Are there any concerts to be had over stopping a current treatment plan and starting up a new one?
- At what stage in the progression of this treatment would you recommend stopping the treatment all together?
- When do we need to see you again for a check up on how this treatment is doing?
- Are there any other health care professionals that you recommend we see?
- Who should we call if we have concerns about the current treatment program?
- Is there anything else we can do to help make this treatment more effective?