Several kinds of doctor diagnose dementia, and which one you need depends on how straightforward the picture is. Primary care can and often should start the evaluation. Neurologists, geriatricians, geriatric psychiatrists and neuropsychologists each contribute something different, and complicated cases usually involve more than one.
Several kinds of doctor diagnose dementia, and which one you need depends on how straightforward the picture is. Primary care can and often should start the evaluation. Neurologists, geriatricians, geriatric psychiatrists and neuropsychologists each contribute something different, and complicated cases usually involve more than one.
Primary care orders the first round of blood work, reviews medications and screens cognition, which is enough to resolve a proportion of cases. A neurologist examines the nervous system, distinguishes between the diseases that cause dementia, and investigates seizures, movement abnormalities and focal findings. A geriatrician manages the interaction of several conditions and a long medication list. A geriatric psychiatrist takes the lead when depression, psychosis or difficult behaviour dominates. A neuropsychologist performs the detailed testing that maps which cognitive domains are affected, which is often what separates one diagnosis from another.
Symptoms starting before about 65. Rapid decline over weeks to months. Prominent hallucinations, tremor, stiffness or falls. Behaviour or language changing before memory does. Any suggestion of seizures. Weakness or asymmetry on examination. Each of those raises the chance of a diagnosis with specific management, and in some cases of a contributor that is reversible.
These conditions are not interchangeable. Cholinesterase inhibitors often help in Lewy body dementia and are avoided in frontotemporal dementia. Antipsychotics can cause severe reactions in Lewy body dementia. Anti-amyloid therapies apply only to Alzheimer's disease confirmed by biomarkers and only in early stages. A generic label of dementia does not tell anyone which of those applies.
This is an adult practice, for patients 18 and older. A visit covers history from you and from someone who knows you well, an examination, cognitive assessment and review of blood work looking for correctable contributors including thyroid disease, B12 deficiency, sleep apnoea, depression and medication effects. EEG is performed on site where seizures are a question. MRI and lumbar puncture are not performed here; they are arranged elsewhere and the results reviewed with you. Detailed neuropsychological testing is referred out.
Clinical Neurology Specialists has been physician-owned since 1998, when Leo Germin, M.D., FAANEM founded it. Five board-certified neurologists and four advanced practice providers see patients at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices, each with its own AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratory.
Clinical Neurology Specialists is an adult outpatient neurology practice for patients 18 and older. The practice performs no surgery and operates no imaging suite, infusion suite or interventional pain programme, and provides no emergency or inpatient care.
Physician-reviewed. Reviewed by the physicians of Clinical Neurology Specialists — board-certified neurologists, AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratories, physician-owned since 1998. Reviewed 1 August 2026. This article is general education for adults 18 and older and is not a substitute for a consultation.
Sources and further reading: MedlinePlus: dementia; National Institute on Aging; MedlinePlus: memory.
Adults 18 and older, at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices. Call 702-804-1212 or request an appointment online.