what are these symptoms?

[tsteiding64]

my mother-in-law is 71 and has started experiencing a dazed / foggy feeling in her head, her only other complaint is that she is lethargic.  alzheimers runs in her family and although i don't know if it is inherited i have been noticing for about 3 years now she seems to have trouble remembering things, both long and short term.  she smoked for around 50 years and quit feb. 1st of this year...her daughter believes that the feeling in her head is from nicotine withdraws...any advice??

[tsteiding64]

Thanks for the advice, we are seeing her regular gp this morning and i am going to talk to him about these things, hopefully we will be referred to someone who will be able to give us some answers.  thanks again!

[PaulMD]

Hi there.

Alzheimer's disease has a set of diagnostic criteria that will enable a doctor to tell if it is alzhemiers and also assess it's severity.  The dazed and foggy feeling can have several causes.  One is the inefficiency of blood delivery to the brain caused by the hardening of the arteries brought about by natural ageing, hypertension, or high cholesterol levels.  Nicotine withdrawal is also plausible.  It can also be a primary eye problem like errors of refraction or progressing astigmatism.  I suggest you have her evaluated by a neurologist to ascertain the cause.  Regards and God bless...