Send us Fan Mail

This is the practical, unglamorous side of caregiving: wait lists, referrals, insurance chats, second opinions, and learning that you're allowed to ask for better. If you're just starting to build a care team for someone you love, this episode is the one we wish we'd had a year ago.

When our mom was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, we thought getting a neurologist meant we were set. We were wrong. In this episode, we walk through everything it actually took to build a care team that works with her to support her health, mind, and wellbeing- including how to get second opinions and keep pushing for new medical conversations, especially after our first experience with her original neurologist post-diagnosis, who told her: "there's no cure, good luck."

While we understand the diagnosis we face, and we're not expecting an immediate cure, having a medical team that knows we want to spend as much time with our mom as possible, and slow the cognitive decline as much as possible, was important to us. This includes pursuing other kinds of support like working with a functional medicine doctor to support her entire body system, therapy, and memory therapy too.

We get into the parts nobody prepared us for: the insurance fight when a $900 memory therapy bill got denied after a coverage switch, the referral chase between PCP and neurologist, and why we ultimately went looking for a therapist who specializes in Alzheimer's and dementia specifically- because grief this specific needs someone who's seen it before. We also talk about why functional medicine can put you at odds with a traditional neurologist, and where our dad's skepticism has created real friction in how we approach mom's care.

In this episode: early onset Alzheimer's | building a care team | functional medicine | neurologist second opinion | memory therapy | Alzheimer's insurance denial | Alzheimer's therapist | caregiver advocacy | PCP referral | geriatric care manager

Support the show

Thanks for walking this journey with us. Conversations Through Alzheimer's is hosted by sisters Amber and Felicia, and new episodes drop every Monday through September 2026.

If this show has resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on our socials:

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conversationsthroughalz
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThroughALZ

Support the Alzheimer's Association by joining our Walk to End Alzheimer's team or donating: https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818