Hi everyone,
I haven't posted for a while but I just want to discuss something that plays on my mind a little bit. My father-in-law has early onset Alzheimer's Disease which was diagnosed last May. He is 55. I know a bit about dementia as I am a newly qualified social worker, but I certainly don't know everything about it and I'm not a doctor. I decided to read Still Alice recently and it brought back to the forefront of my mind the potential for dementia to run in families. What I didn't really know is that early onset dementia is quite often down to genetics, and I can't help but worry about my partner and whether he could have the gene that has most likely brought this horrible condition into our lives, and even worse whether any children we have will have such a gene. We have a 1 year old little girl and I can't help but worry for her future should she a) see her dad get the same condition as her grandad or even worse b) she ends up having EOAD herself.
Anyone else have these worries? I know that there isn't really much point in worrying because even if we could know for sure there isn't anything that can be done to change that fact other than trying to live a healthy and fulfilled life and hope for the best. It is hard to erase this worry from my mind though.
Michelle
I haven't posted for a while but I just want to discuss something that plays on my mind a little bit. My father-in-law has early onset Alzheimer's Disease which was diagnosed last May. He is 55. I know a bit about dementia as I am a newly qualified social worker, but I certainly don't know everything about it and I'm not a doctor. I decided to read Still Alice recently and it brought back to the forefront of my mind the potential for dementia to run in families. What I didn't really know is that early onset dementia is quite often down to genetics, and I can't help but worry about my partner and whether he could have the gene that has most likely brought this horrible condition into our lives, and even worse whether any children we have will have such a gene. We have a 1 year old little girl and I can't help but worry for her future should she a) see her dad get the same condition as her grandad or even worse b) she ends up having EOAD herself.
Anyone else have these worries? I know that there isn't really much point in worrying because even if we could know for sure there isn't anything that can be done to change that fact other than trying to live a healthy and fulfilled life and hope for the best. It is hard to erase this worry from my mind though.
Michelle