Man spends 20 years believing he has Alzheimer’s

It took 20 years for a man to finally be correctly diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus. During that time he was misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s. NPH is a condition where spinal fluid builds up in the brain and is alleviated simply by draining the fluid. Symptoms of Alzheimer’s are irrational behavior, disorientation and forgetfulness. Symptoms of NPH are a shuffling walk, mild memory loss and often incontinence. Researchers claim that over 35,000 people are believed to have misdiagnosed NPH. NPH sufferers are usually misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s for an average of 7 to 9 years. NPH can be detected with a scan or spinal tap.

Related Disease Topics:

• NPH
• Normal pressure hydrocephalus
• Alzheimer’s

Related Symptom Topics:

• Irrational behavior
• Disorientation
• Forgetfulness
• Shuffling walk
• Memory loss
• Incontinence

Article Source Details

About: Man spends 20 years believing he has Alzheimer’s

Date: 19 May 2005

Author: Steve Horrell

URL: http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200505/1371415.htm?tropic Source ABC

Related Medical Topics

This summary article refers to the following medical categories:

• Misdiagnosis (type of Medical misadventure)
• Misdiagnosis and irrational behavior
• Misdiagnosis and disorientation
• Misdiagnosis and forgetfulness
• Misdiagnosis and shuffling walk
• Misdiagnosis and memory loss
• Misdiagnosis and incontinence
• Misdiagnosis and NPH
• Misdiagnosis and normal pressure hydrocephalus
• Misdiagnosis and Alzheimer’s
• Cause of irrational behavior
• Cause of disorientation
• Cause of forgetfulness
• Cause of shuffling walk
• Cause of memory loss
• Cause of incontinence

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