Every seven seconds someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. What if that diagnosis was wrong?
Ten percent of patients who receive that devastating news actually suffer from something different, something completely treatable.
Doctors are seeing it right here in Central Texas.
Sometimes the simple pleasures in life become the impossible. That was Chris Stephens worry five years ago.
"The doctor thought I might have Parkinson's,” said Stephens.
Nancy Thompson experienced a more gradual change. Her memory became cloudy and her once bubbly social personality disappeared.
"I just was out of it,” said Thompson. “I thought this is life and this is the way it's going to be. I'm just probably going to be this way the rest of my life."
Thompson’s doctor suspected she might be experiencing the symptoms of Alzheimer's.
However instead of those life-altering diseases both Stephens and Thompson were actually suffering from NPH.
"NPH is normal pressure hydrocephalus. What that is is a backup of spinal fluid in the brain," said Dr. Mark Burnett, M.D. of the NeuroTexas Institute at St. David’s.
"That fluid which is sort of like water needs to circulate out of the brain and it does so continuously over the day. We make about twelve ounces of that a day. So if that outflow system gets clogged people's brains can begin to be stunned and patients will kind of like an old clock, kind of slow down," said Dr. Burnett.
One of the more common symptoms is a feeling of having magnets on your feet. It can cause a person to shuffle their feet when they walk. A gait few people realize is the sign of something more serious.
"It is frequently misdiagnosed or not diagnosed," said Dr. Burnett.
A spinal tap and an MRI can show a doctor what’s happening. In fact it’s really the only way to diagnose NPH. However many people’s insurance plans don’t cover MRIs so doctor’s often don’t order one.
In a normal brain the ventricles are fairly narrow. In someone like Thompson their ventricles look almost swollen and they are filled with more fluid.
The great news is once this is diagnosed, "It's one of the very few treatable forms of dementia," said Dr. Burnett.
Doctors install a shunt inside a patient’s brain then run a tube to drain the fluid into their stomach.
Doctors then use a magnet, almost like the dial on a thermostat, to control how much fluid is released from the brain.
"Just like a block on I-35, it’s creating a detour for that spinal fluid to get out of the brain so that you don't build up pressure in the head," said Dr. Burnett.
The results of surgery for Thompson and Stephens were immediate.
“It felt like someone had taken a vacuum and vacuumed all of the cotton and clouds out of my head,” said Stephens.
“It’s made so much of a difference with me,” said Thompson.
Doctors say tens of thousands of people diagnosed with Parkinson's, Dimentia or Alzheimer's actually have NPH.
Stephens and Thompson are proof that not every initially devastating diagnosis is a death sentence.
You can read more about NPH
Ten signs of Alzheimer's
