Reasons for getting a diagnosis

I have always been somewhat somewhat sceptical about the push for more people to get an early diagnosis and I've posted about this before. It took a long time for S's diagnosis to be arrived at, more than a decade. We knew fairly early on that she probably had some form of dementia but nothing more specific.

I know some people and their carers deliberately avoid diagnosis and I can understand this.

However, there are some arguments for seeking a diagnosis:

1) There are drugs available which might help (they may not though and may have side-effects). And some forms of dementia do not really respond to any medication.

2) A diagnosis ought to give you access to a lot of valuable support. But people often report that this desirable result is not forthcoming.

3) Blood tests might show that dementia-like symptoms may be caused by a number of conditions which can often be cured or kept at bay:

http://www.helpguide.org/harvard/whats-causing-your-memory-loss.htm