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• Housecall
• Alzheimer's caregiving
• Living with cancer

• October 1, 2009 12:29 p.m.

  Is there such a thing as early-early Alzheimer's? My husband and I are 61 and got married 6 years ago. Since then I have noticed many cognitive impairments, e.g. inability to plan, anticipate, doesn't finish tasks, leaves things all over the house, up and down the stairs all day, memory loss, etc. My friends say "that's just men". I just say that his brain is just not working right. Yesterday our naturopath identified that he has brain inflammation and he will be starting on brain nutrition and supplements as well as an exercise program. Any advice?

  - kate

• September 2, 2009 12:11 p.m.

  My mother was struck with the disease in 1996. It broke my heart, and my loving dad kept at home and took care of her. He died in 2000 with a massive heart attack. I think it was from the stress and depression. I helped him care for her and work a full time job. When he died my 2 sisters and I took care of her until her death in April 2009. I miss her so much and my dad. Anyone who has dealt with this dreaded disease has my very loving smpathy. I hope and pray that there will be a cure some day. I am so scared that myself or other family members will get this. The only thing that kept my depression down some which was not much was the happiness of being able to take care of her and be with her. I will never get over the agony and pain that I've been through from this and miss my mother so much each day that she is not here.

  - Ann

• August 5, 2009 12:14 p.m.

  Hello fellow EOAD'ers. My name is Lisa. I was diagnosed with EOAD/YOAD 2 years ago at age 53. I'm now 55 and still my own caregiver. Please go to www.alz.org and check the Message Boards. There's a lot of help and support there!

  - Lisa

• July 18, 2009 4:38 p.m.

  My mother died at age 57 in 1998 wit EOAD. She had a major car accident in 1973 which she suffered from severe head trauma. For all the people out there with EOAD or with a loved one with EOAD did any suffer from a head trauma? I also want to know what are your opinions are on genetic testing for children of EOAD victims and if any know where you can have it done and how much does it cost?

  - candice

• July 4, 2009 10:56 p.m.

  My sister was diagnosed last year with early-onset Alzheimer's after she lost her job in Sept. 2008. She had a fall at work in Nov. 2007 where she hit her head. Since that time her memory began to decline noticably. After MRI, neuropsycg evaluation and a PET scan it was determined her brain showed some abnormalities that could be consistent with an early Alzheimer's type problem. She is taking Namenda twice a day and Aricept once a day in the evening. Generally she has no problem taking morning meds, but taking her night time meds (Namenda & Aricept) seem to be an issue. She resents being reminded to take her evening medication too. She still drives from time to time locally, but she has gotten lost at least one time that I know about. Taking her car away will be a challenge since she still feels she is a good driver. I'm 15 months older than her, and I worry I may be next. It is so hard to see my sister decline so quickly, especially since she has always had the best memory in the family. Although there is history of Alzheimer's disease on our father's side of the family, I still wonder if her head trauma during the fall in 2007 might have something to do with her condition. None of our relatives who have or have since passed on with Alzheimer's actually had early-onset Alzheimer's. Thankfully we have a strong family support system, but financially the future looks grim for her in a good long term care facility.

  - Jeanette

• May 11, 2009 11:47 a.m.

  Hi, My daughter-in-law passed away at 38 with eoad, her sister died at 34 with the same symptons. Her mother died at 38, same symptoms, The mother and sister were diagnosed w/Huntingtons but had no dna test. my dil 's dna tested negative for Huntingtons and we had testing done at washington u by dr john morris and were told she had eoad. the auopsy confirmed the diagnosis. we have 2 grandchildren we are very concerned about, ages 8 and 12 and can't find any info or help on this subject. Any ideas?

  - marge

• April 18, 2009 1:26 a.m.

  I feel for all of you. I know what its like. My dad was diagnosed almost 2 years ago at age 53. I am only 21 and have a 14 year old brother. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to go through. I'm angry and think it's so unfair, I know that won't help but I can't help it. I think my brother and I are both in the avoidance/ denial stage. I don't visit my dad as often as I should because it hurts so bad to face the reality that he is a different person. Then I feel like I terrible person for not visiting as much as I should. I am so scared for what the future holds. I have no idea what I will do. How do I decide at 21 whether I should try and care for my dad or put him in a facility. How do I put him in a facility when hes in his 50's and everyone else is in their 90's. I break down all the time thinking about the fact that theres such a good chance my dad wont be there to walk me down the isle someday or to meet his grandbabies. Like other people have said, Alzheimers is a monster!! It's so heartwrenching to watch my dad slowly deteriorate until he eventually dies.

  - Lindsey

• March 28, 2009 7:26 a.m.

  Kevin, Your story sounds very familiar. Our loved one had similar problems - trouble putting sentences together, forgetting about laundry, etc. She doesn't cook anymore for safety reasons. She was diagnosed with early onset about a year ago, age 60. Her friends were starting to notice and she withdrew from them. It sounds like seeing a neurologist is a good idea. They will give a verbal test and an EEG to help diagnose. I hope this is helpful.

  - Beth

• March 1, 2009 11:24 a.m.

  For the past four years my wife has mentioned that she feels her memory is not as good as it used to be; she is 55 now. The other thing she said is that she has trouble finding common words and will sometimes make a sentence with a word that she knows is not the proper one. I personally do not see a great change in her language but when I hear her talking on the phone with friends I notice that she is does seem to find it difficult to find words sometimes. In the past year she has a few friends who when she asks them about something they will say, I just told you about that yesterday. Another two events in the past four months was when I mentioned her niece’s name, a niece whom she spent two weeks living in her home a year ago, she didn’t recognize her name and then when I was talking to her about ten days ago and mentioned a young lady whose parents she met and exchanged Chinese cooking knowledge with and she did not recognize the young ladies’ name until I reminded her. But finally why am getting a little bit more concerned is that recently she has been forgetting more often and leaving the top burners on the stove on. Just in the past month she has probably done this about five times. I don’t see any of the extreme items mentioned in this blog but I am wondering if these type of behaviors were experienced by your loved one who were diagnosised with early onset?

  - Kevin

• February 24, 2009 4:58 p.m.

  In answer to Rene's inquiry. Her mom's symptoms sound that Lewy Bodies dementia, which shares symptoms with several disease, especially Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. A thorough examination by a neurologist can help.

  - Evelyn

• February 22, 2009 9:11 p.m.

  I also just finished the book "Still Alice" My mother had early onset/pics disease which made her behavior bizarre and violent until she was over medicated and went into an almost coma like state. Now she is off most of her drugs and is slowly progressing into the final stage. I'd like to be teasted for APP,PSI,PS2 does anyone know the approximate cost?

  - Janet

• February 20, 2009 8:10 a.m.

  My husband is 62, has been on Aricept for 6 years, and is still in the early stages of Alzheimer's. I wish there were more help out there for others like him who have lost the discipline to be self-motivated. I can't get him to play games, which he has never enjoyed. The only things he will do is read and walk the dogs. Being thrown in a group with others who are more advanced is depressing to him. While there is a lot out there by way of support for the caregiver, I'm not finding what I need to help him. Any ideas?

  - jbb

• February 2, 2009 2:58 p.m.

  I am 33 years old.I am confused because my mom was diagnosed with early eoa at 45ish. Originally we were told that my grandmother had huntington's but since there was no genetic testing in the 60s she was miss diagnosed. I still don't believe that what my mother has is eoa. She lost her balance and walking abilities before her memory. She cannot take care of herself. She can barely feed herself. All the info I read talks only about memory loss. What about all the other symptoms?

  - Rene

• January 31, 2009 10:28 a.m.

  I am a 46yrs. women who has Celias Disease and I'm on the Excellon Patch. Why? My doctor put me on to see if my memory gets better. Any Advice would be great.

  - gammij

• January 23, 2009 4:39 p.m.

  My husband was just diagnosed and he is 6 weeks shy of 31 years old. We have been noticing serious changes in the last 6 months. He has Tourettes Syndrome and went to the neurologist for this when they did the brain scan and said it looked like early onset Alzheimers. It was a total shock. They are still not saying for sure, since he does have Tourettes. But they put him on Aricept. I am scared to have to watch him wither away at such a young age. We also have 3 young children, I don't know what to tell them. Not sure if I should wait until we have more info and the doctors can be a little more definative about this really being the correct diagnosis.

  - Carla

• January 20, 2009 6:33 a.m.

  My dad passed away a yr ago from early onset at 64. I am very concerned for myself, my siblings and my children. I just read a book on this disease "STILL ALICE" While it was an insightful book for us to read into what our love ones feel (its fiction but based on all real facts) it freaked me out b/c it seems that if my father had one of these three genes, he had a 50% chance of passing it onto us and then we have a 100# chance of getting early onset. What do you know about this?

  - sw

• January 13, 2009 10:35 p.m.

  Hi Ken J, You have not posted a comment in almost a year. Are you still out there. It has been 13 months since my wife passed away from early on set at 60. I think I can help you and your son. Post something so I can try and help, it is a hard road. I have been through it.

  - Nosnarfu9

• December 31, 2008 10:46 p.m.

  Hi all, I am living in Japan with my wife and we just had a daughter and we suspect my mother in law has the simptoms of alzheimer. she is only 57 and I am so worried about our future and about the future of my little beloved daugther. I really hope to have support from her family otherwise we are going to face a long dark period. I bought her to our house yesterday to spend new year's eve togeather and the change of location was just too much for her. She thought I was her husband and that my wife was her sister this was too much for us. I try to put in all my patience. I was wondering if hospitalization is required at such an age? would it be better if we help her at home or not?

  - Giovanni

• December 26, 2008 4:21 p.m.

  Hi, my dad was diagnosed 3 years ago with EOAD. He is now 57. Yesterday he became agitated and angry. He got angry with my mother and called the police, saying that my mom hit him (even though she did not). When the police came, my dad became even more angered that they did not believe his side of the story, and arrested him. He spend the night in jail. It was awful. He feels helpless because of the memory loss, and acts out in response. Now he blames my mom for him going to jail. It seems like he is going to hold this against her forever. He is not severe enough to be placed in a nursing home facility. He is still able to do all daily activities, drives, and runs errands. Worse, he knows that he has EOAD and is very self-conscious about it. He does not want to go to any type of facility at all. And it would be awkward if someone came to our house to "take care" of him. What do we do?

  - Jodi

• August 31, 2008 12:21 a.m.

  My dad is 49, and is getting to the somewhat later stages of EOA. Not sure which ones exactly. He was diagnosed when he was 43. His sister passed away from EOA when she was 42, diagnosed when she was 38. I wish I could say that there is life after EOA, but it's just not possible for me to say. I see what my dad goes through, and I saw what my aunt went through. My dad is so depressed and it kills me that there's nothing I can do to stop it. It's like a stranger has taken over. I hate being away at college knowing what's happening. It's so hard.

  - Shmoo

• August 30, 2008 1:13 p.m.

  My mother died recently after 13 years as a victim of Alzheimers. Ten years ago, at the age of 58, myt oldest brother was diabnosed with early-onset Alz. Just last week my other brother was diagnosed at age 63 with cognitive impairment and short-term memory loss. This disease is taking my whole family. I am devastated and in mourning over this latest news. It could come stalking me next. I am 62. I was my mother's caregiver for several years and finally wrote and had published a book: "Every Da a New Adventure: Caregivers Talk about Alzheimer's Disease." I interviewed 5 other caregivers and one person with the disease and told mine and mother's story as well. This is not a self-published book. It is an intimate look at what Alz does to families and the difficult job that caregiving is. As my daughter says, You laugh; you cry; but most of all, you believe! If you're interested, the book is available through PublishAmerica.com and Amazon.com. If it is of help to anyone, I would be proud.

  - Joan Kelley

• August 28, 2008 12:43 p.m.

  My father has Alzheimer's disease and was diagnosed when he was 74. My concern is that I suspect my sister who is in her late 50's may have EOA. Her short term memory seems compromised, her affect seems flat, and she seems to drift during conversations .She still works and her family hasn't mentioned they are worried about her obvious symptoms. My dilemma is I don't know whether I should ask her point blank about my concerns or if I should wait for her to bring up the subject. Any suggestions?

  - beth

• August 24, 2008 6:36 p.m.

  My husband was dignosed with EOAD in 04, age 65.He saw other DR. who says no EOAD. He stopped his meds ate & lived healthier. Is doing better but gets angry & verb abusive if I disagree with him. Ups & downs.We both work.

  - Liz

• August 24, 2008 4:41 p.m.

  April 11, 2008 @ 11:00, I was told I have alz. I have had three oponions. I knew something was going on for a long time. I am 57 years old. I forget things, will start things and forget I didn't finish. I am now on S.S. disability. This is the hardest thing to deal with.My spelling and my han writing is so bad. Doctor's tell us this isn't a death sentence. Has anyone told them they have Alz? I do not feel sorry for myself, I can laugh about the crazy things I do, for now I can. I know one thing, If there is not a cure, my family will lose me. I have learned something and that is to focus on what is important and don't worry about tomorrow. My heart goes out to all of you that have the same problem.

  - Sharon

• August 13, 2008 10:44 a.m.

  I am 58 years old. I am confused between the term "dementia" and early onset alzheimers. I don't know up from down most of the time. I feel like I live in some alternate world and no one understands! My short term memory gets worse everyday. I feel so alone and isolated. Someone please know what I feel!

  - lorene knowles