
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 18, 1993                   TAG: 9305180103
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TESTS CAN HELP DIAGNOSE ALZHEIMER'S

How can you know if memory problems in a loved one are a symptom of Alzheimer's? The series of tests done at the Baumel-Eisner Neuromedical Institute, which tests Alzheimer's drugs in Bay Harbor Islands and Tamarac, Fla., includes:

Can the person copy a drawing of a cube correctly? Even if it's not pretty, the lines should be in the right place.

Saying a string of three unrelated words to the person ("ball, flag, tree"), and asking the person to repeat them.

Asking the person to follow a string of verbal directions using a blank sheet of paper. "Take the paper in your right hand, fold it in half and put it on the table."

With such tests, Esther Feldman, a neuropsychologist at the University of Miami, usually can reassure people that their memory problems are just normal forgetting.

"What I tell them is that if I don't write something down I forget it, too," Feldman said. "Everyone is allowed some forgetfulness. But if you write it down and never look at it, then maybe the problem is for real."

And sometimes memory problems occur in an aging person because of physical illness or an emotional crisis, but there's no reason to believe the changes will be permanent, she said.

Her analogy: "If you get a cold, it doesn't mean your nose will never work again."

by CNB