Hi all, this is my first post here!
I’m Chloe, I’m 21 and my mum was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in January, aged 53. As I’m sure you know, this has been very difficult and I still haven’t really accepted it - but I’m getting there. One thing preventing me from focusing on the present is familial Alzheimer’s.
So, I was researching on the internet and found scary facts like “most cases of early onset are genetic and familial” (I know now this is not true). But initially this scared me so I did some family history research...
My mums mum (my gran) died at 44 due to a heart attack, but showed no cognitive decline. My great gran, however, was insititutionalised with “early dementia” in the 1950s, age 51 - so she was already in the later stages by 51, whereas my mum is just a bit forgetful. Now, originally I panicked and thought this meant it was familial and that I now have a 50/50 chance of getting the disease (baring in mind doctors haven’t told me this, this is my own research). However, my great gran had two sisters who didn’t have the disease. My gran (who we don’t know if she would have even developed it) had a brother who didn’t develop the disease. My mum has two older sisters who also haven’t developed Alzheimer’s. Now, don’t they say it has to affect many members in a family? I just feel like it’s very unlikely that it’s skipped all these siblings and struck one person every generation. As well as this, my great gran (the one with early dementia - apparently) also had hypothyroidism and goitre - both can exhibit dementia like symptoms, so maybe she was misdiagnosed.
I don’t know, what do you guys think?
I’m Chloe, I’m 21 and my mum was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in January, aged 53. As I’m sure you know, this has been very difficult and I still haven’t really accepted it - but I’m getting there. One thing preventing me from focusing on the present is familial Alzheimer’s.
So, I was researching on the internet and found scary facts like “most cases of early onset are genetic and familial” (I know now this is not true). But initially this scared me so I did some family history research...
My mums mum (my gran) died at 44 due to a heart attack, but showed no cognitive decline. My great gran, however, was insititutionalised with “early dementia” in the 1950s, age 51 - so she was already in the later stages by 51, whereas my mum is just a bit forgetful. Now, originally I panicked and thought this meant it was familial and that I now have a 50/50 chance of getting the disease (baring in mind doctors haven’t told me this, this is my own research). However, my great gran had two sisters who didn’t have the disease. My gran (who we don’t know if she would have even developed it) had a brother who didn’t develop the disease. My mum has two older sisters who also haven’t developed Alzheimer’s. Now, don’t they say it has to affect many members in a family? I just feel like it’s very unlikely that it’s skipped all these siblings and struck one person every generation. As well as this, my great gran (the one with early dementia - apparently) also had hypothyroidism and goitre - both can exhibit dementia like symptoms, so maybe she was misdiagnosed.
I don’t know, what do you guys think?