Anyone work at a neurologist office that can answer some medical questions?

Talk to the secretary or MA. They should know

MIS Test – Memory Impairment Screen. The Memory Impairment Screen is a brief cognitive test for memory, delayed recall and verbal fluency. Scores equal to or less than 4 may indicate mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early stage Alzheimer's dementia.

One of the first things they do

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What is the usual battery of tests conducted when diagnosing possible dementia or alzheimers? In what order are these tests conducted? Are EEG's and MRI's usually done? How definitive are these tests in diagnosing?

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Asking lots of questions is a symptom.

Neuropsychological testing is the gold standard. Imaging such as MRI is okay, PET is better but still not as good as actual cognitive testing. What others have mentioned in the thread are short screening measures which should not be used for definitive diagnosis except in extreme cases. To differentiate normal aging from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and from dementia, a comprehensive Neuropsychological assessment is your best bet.

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Asking lots of questions is a symptom.

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If he starts the same thread several times without realizing he has done so, it is definitive.

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Do you want them to to a brain biopsy? Because, that is the only true way of knowing a patient has AD.

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uh no

Actually, autopsy is the only 100% definitive diagnosis. Even having the APOE4 allele is no guarantee you will actually have Alzheimer's dementia.

Of course, Alzheimer's is only one of many types of dementia.

I know. It doesn't look good for me either