Could you be given this dreaded diagnosis in error?

It’s one of the biggest medical risks you may be facing — particularly if you’re a senior.

Practically everyone, but especially anyone 65 or older, is in danger of being diagnosed with a dreaded disease they don’t actually have — Alzheimer’s.

It’s hard to imagine — the shock and horror of hearing that you should expect to gradually lose your memory and deteriorate to the point where you’ll need round-the-clock care.

But even if you think your doctor is wrong, proving it can be a difficult and costly proposition.

And if you aren’t careful, you or a loved one could become the next victim of this terrifying tragedy of errors.

Is it the ‘Big A’ or a big mistake?
Once a doctor has put down “Alzheimer’s” on your medical records, having it erased is like trying to get out of quicksand.

Because while getting diagnosed is relatively simple, getting undiagnosed is next to impossible.

For example, 10 years ago at the young age of 49, Michael Ellenbogen was given that devastating news.

He had been having memory problems that bothered him enough to go see his doctor. And after some testing, he finally received the startling diagnosis of the Big A.

But as the years went by, he began to have second thoughts about it.

Ellenbogen was finally able to get into a clinical trial for a new type of PET scan — one not covered by insurance — that injects a radioactive agent into you to seek out and bind with the hallmark brain plaques of the disease.

And finally, at age 59 — after a decade of living with this awful prospect — he was told that, oops, he didn’t have Alzheimer’s after all!

Although Ellenbogen would be considered rather young to be told he has this mind-robbing disease, the instances of seniors being dished out an incorrect Alzheimer’s verdict (along with some incredibly dangerous drugs) are occurring with frightening frequency these days.

A few months ago, the early results of a study utilizing those enhanced PET scans (the same test Michael Ellenbogen took) on 4,000 Medicare patients diagnosed with “mild cognitive impairment” (MCI) and dementia were released.

It turns out that a large percentage — around two-thirds of those patients who were prime candidates for being given those extremely risky Alzheimer’s drugs — shouldn’t be touching them with a 10-foot pole.

They turned out to have either no visible plaques on those PET scans… or very sparse ones, which would rule out any possibility of their having Alzheimer’s.

James Hendrix, director of global science initiatives for the Alzheimer Association, admitted that it’s now obvious there are “high percentages of people who are on a drug” who shouldn’t be.

And that’s just the beginning for this research, called the IDEAS study. Over 14,000 more patients are due to be tested, meaning those startling findings could be a mere drop in the bucket.

What, then, could be behind all these Alzheimer’s-like symptoms?

Well, as we’ve told you previously, when it comes to keeping your mind sharp, the best idea is to stay far away from drugs that are known to have side effects that can give all the appearances of a textbook Alzheimer’s case.

The list is a very long one, containing over 100 different drugs. It includes:

• “benzos” such as Xanax, Valium, Ativan and Librium,
• antihistamines, like the OTC med Benadryl,
• sleeping pills,
• statin drugs, and
• meds for acid-reflux, such as Zantac.

But drugs aren’t the only thing that could make you a victim of an erroneous Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Excessive brain fluid and even late-stage Lyme disease can both masquerade as dementia.

The fact is that millions are being given a devastating diagnosis (which could even cost you your driver’s license) and really risky meds for a condition they don’t have.

So, if a doctor gives you or someone you love the bad news that “it’s Alzheimer’s,” your next move should be to see if something else might be causing those symptoms. Especially before you agree to start up on any new drugs.

As big as the current Alzheimer’s epidemic is said to be, it’s looking more and more like the misdiagnosis of this disease could turn out to be a very big part of it.

“I lived with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis for years. But a recent test says I many not have it after all” Michael Ellenbogen, October 29, 2017, The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com