Don’t know if any of you are watching the very powerful documentary series “The Alzheimer’s Project”, but if you didn’t, (and even if you did) and have some questions, I’d like to open this thread with an invitation for y’all to ask me questions.
Please. Do NOT worry about offending me with any question regarding my EOAD, okay? Part of my job as an Alzheimer’s Advocate with my local chapter is to educate, so don’t be shy./
I’ll start it off with an answer to a question you might not ask because of the above reason:
What were your first symptoms? What led you to be diagnosed? How old were (are?) you at time of diagnosis? Has there been any else in your family with Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia?
Yes, there is a difference, but the difference relates to stages.
“Early Onset Alzheimer’s” is stage 3 (the one I am in now) and here are the symptoms:
Stage 3: Mild cognitive decline
Early-stage Alzheimer’s can be diagnosed in some, but not all, individuals with these symptoms:
Friends, family, or co-workers begin to notice deficiencies. Problems with memory or concentration may be measurable in clinical testing or discernible during a detailed medical interview.
Common difficulties include:
Word- or name-finding problems noticeable to family or close associates
Decreased ability to remember names when introduced to new people
Performance issues in social or work settings noticeable to family, friends, or co-workers
Reading a passage and retaining little material
Losing or misplacing a valuable object
Decline in ability to plan or organize
Wargamer, there are 7 stages in all, and stage 5 is when one enters the “full-blown” Alzheimer’s realm.
Here’s a very informative website which describes all 7 stages in detail.
In closing, let me add that although I am considered stage 3, I do have one of the symptoms in stage 4 already. I cannot count backward from 100 by 7’s.
I hope this answers your question and thanks very much for your interest!
I can live another 8-20 years. And that is what is keeping me so pro-active! Within that time-frame, surely someone will come up with a cure, “Shirley”!
But I’d like to add the following caveat, Mahaloth: These symptoms and the way the meds for the AD are working on me, ain’t no party. Ain’t no disco, neither! This really ain’t “no foolin’ around”! Apologies to the Heads!
Thanks for reading the blog and checking in here, Mahaloth.
Question: What, exactly, differentiates EOAD (as defined by the above symptoms) from the more common affliction known to laypersons as “college”?
More serious questions:
Are the causes of Alzheimer’s disease known? Is it based in genetics, is it a response to a viral or bacterial infection? Is it caused by exposure to certain environmental factors? Or something else?
Related to the above: Are there any lifestyle tips that if adopted early enough will ward off AD to at least some degree?
What exactly does an Alzheimer’s Advocate, well, advocate? My limited understanding of the disease is that it is incurable, has no known cause (or at least no cause that we can control or eliminate), manifests itself in a variety of symptoms, and is fatal. What can ordinary people, citizens who care but are not cutting-edge medical researchers, actually DO in order to help?
I’ll answer you this way Madd Maxx: Because of the nature of the question, it will probably stay with me for quite a while.
Also, my reading comprehension sucks and I am very likely to buy the same book twice. It has happened, and Border’s Books has always taken the second purchase back.
That is to say, as long as the material is in front of my eyes (like here), I’m fine. But if it’s anything I have to read and retain, forget about it.
My FIL is a psychiatrist, and he said that there is a pretty standard test of about 30 questions used in the initial analysis of a patient who may have Alheimers or other dementia.
Apparently the only question that matters* is the “time” one; have the patient draw a clock on a blank piece of paper, and set the clock at “ten-past-ten”.
Did you have that test/question, and how did you do?
*matters in the sense that many people might not remember whether today is the 10th or the 11th, and being able to count backwards from 100 by 7s is difficult for a lot of normal people, etc. This came about during a rather drunken dinner conversation, so don’t take my recollection of the test/conversation as any type of serious reference!
Okay, on to answer your more serious questions, Alastair Moonsong.
Yes AD can be inherited, but it’s a genetic thing and has to do with mutated genes and is not supported with any kind of definitive data. In my case my neuro-guy says he’s 90% sure that because my parents had “pre-senile dementia” that they passed it on to me. In other words, since I am in EOAD, there’s a “good” chance I inherited it.
What causes Alzheimer’s? Well, the most popular answer is plaques and tangles. Plaques in the form of protein (beta-amyloid) on the brain and tangles which are more nerve-cell affected by another protein called tau. Both of these together cause mis-communication in the brain, which in turn causes me to do goofy shit, like put the car keys in the fridge while loading it with groceries, and then not being able to find them.
Bill: Honey!!! Have you seen the car keys???
Dondra: Check the fridge, Babe
Another cause is head injury: if a person falls down and strikes his head, for instance. If that person is a serious risk for falling, he or she may be well on the way.
And then there is the inheritance factor, of course
Lifestyle tips to ward off AD: Keep your heart and lungs healthy by exercising. In my reading, I have found that people who do not smoke and/or drink, watch their diet etc., are at a lesser risk than those who do.
What does an “Advocate” advocate?: Well, my primary job is to contact the congress-persons within my district and bug the shit out of them to provide funding for AD research. I guess you could also call me a “lobbyist” (but please, not to my face, okay?:D).
And you are correct, of course that right now it is incurable and fatal, and is second behind cancer as the most feared disease in the world. And yes, Alastair Moonglow there is something everyone can do to help: Think of yourself as having this disease, forgetting words, events, paying your bills, and so many other symptoms, and you’ll know what to do. As a matter of fact, you’re doing it already, and thank you!
I had that question, although I was not asked to mark the time, mnemosyne. As far as I know, I passed that one. I missed the season and the date as well as the month. I also wake up not knowing what day it is, quite frequently. i go to my computer for that.
Thanks for your questions everyone, and please keep them coming. This really is good for me!
Speaking of doctors, time for me to go back to mine to check on how I’m doing. I will be back later, though - fair warning!
Hmm…if problems counting backwards by 7’s is a sign, I think I have had EOAD since I was 18.
First of all, Quasi, thanks for putting my name in a thread title - I feel so honored; first time anyone has done that!
I think all people of a "certain age’ begin to experience certain “senior moments”…“OK, I am in the kitchen now - what in the hell did I come here to get?!” I mean, I teach college students and some of them are about as spacey as it gets (forgetting their laptops in the library, losing car keys, coming to class on the wrong day) - whereas I know some older people who will be mid-conversation and forget what they wanted to say - but then remember a few minutes later.
My question is: How do you determine if a “normal senior moment” is indeed normal, or a sign of something more serious? Frequency of these moments? Severity of the act (for example: forgetting to turn off the gas stove)?
What do you mean by fatal? Though I feel dumb now for asking, I always assumed that Alzheimer’s was a quality of life issue that had no bearing on how long you would live. In other words, assuming you had adequate support and supervision so you weren’t forgetting to eat or wandering off and getting lost in the street, you’d just… live, but with decreasing awareness of reality.
I remember reading something about a possible link between mercury levels and alzheimers. It was a long time ago and might have been debunked by now, though. If that connection is true, though, you can help to prevent alzheimers by avoiding tuna, which if I remember correctly is the most likely way to become exposed to lots of mercury.
You mention forgetfulness "within 20 minutes of being told a very significant thing. ".
Does that thing (whatever it is) make any impression on your memory, like if someone tells you again, you go “Oh yeah! You told me that before :smack:”? Or when you’re retold, is it as if you were hearing it for the first time all over again?
What sort of tools (mechanical, paper/pencil, whatever) do you use to help keep on top of things? (Typo Knig and I use Palm Pilots, which we refer to as our portable brains. The downside of this of course is WHAT IF WE LOSE THE PALM PILOT??? Coping mechanism there in my case: avoid putting it in a case that is the same color as the car’s floor mat :smack:).
