young onset alzheimers disease

[sah]

Hope you feel better soon; I found I really struggled- being a complete control freak-until I told myself off. There's nothing I can do about the AD so no point in trying to fight it.

Having a life away from caring is vital though - do try to build in some you time as it helps you to survive.

Sah.x

 

[stanleypj]

Hi, I have just been told I have Alzheimers disease at the age of 53!!!Would love to make contact with other 'younger' sufferers. If any of you near East Grinstead please let me know. Any advise gladly accepted :

Hi Sallyanne. So sorry to hear that you have Alz, particularly at such a young age. My wife was 50 when first referred to the memory clinic. There are a number of people who post here who have young onset. May be a good idea to start a thread of your own with a little info about yourself. I'm sure you would get some helpful responses.

Take care

 

[nikky]

Been through this once already!!

My hubby and i cared for his mum with picks for 2 years before she became too much for us and went into a nursing home. This was 4 years ago and she passed away this year at the grand age of 85. I am 46 this year and my oh is 58 this summer, we moved countries 2 years ago and we live and work together on our farm. My oh is now showing signs of picks and probably was a year ago but i put it down to stress of new country and establishing our business. He was behaving really strangely (we have lived and worked together for the last 7 years, since we got together) and couldn't accept it wasn't acceptable behaviour. He is no longer affectionate, snappy, argumentative etc although since consulting our GP and accepting that he may have a problem his behaviour is not so extreme. His family has a high ratio of dementia so it has not come as a huge surprise I was just hoping he had more of his dads genes I know that is selfish of me but this man is the love of my life and i'm losing him to this awful disease. He has always been my rock and bless him he said he is just crumbling a bit. He is still very capable at the moment just needs guidance and support. Most people wouldn't notice but his logic has gone a bit haywire. He seems to turn an easy task into a major one. He likes to know i'm not too far away which is new. Because this is something we had previously talked about it has made it a bit easier for me to deal with and talk to him about when his concentration is with me. My biggest concern is how we are going to keep the farm going....Farming is all he knows and i think it is what keeps him going. I will have POA (papers being drawn up) as we didn't want the issues we had with his mum. I can do most of the work myself that was a consideration we made when we moved here, however I thought we would have a longer period of time to enjoy it. I do get lonely as he's not very chatty and we no longer share a bed. We live in the middle of nowhere, we were always just so happy with eachothers company. Now he is happy in his own company. Has anyone else experienced emotional detachment?? How did you cope?? My mum in law was the opposite and we always had a cuddle. I suppose the plus side is OH still calls me darlin, now occasionally washes up, even cooked me a meal for the first time in years. Now eats different food, cold beef (hated cold beef all his life) curry...we now have a cat and he always hated cats.......We have decided to get some help on the farm and train someone up. OH wasn't really keen at first but i explained for us to stay here i would need him to train someone else. Other people have suggested we sell but this is all he knows and this was OUR dream and i don't want to give up on him or our dream!

 

[Sallyanne59]

Thankyou

Hi Sallyanne. So sorry to hear that you have Alz, particularly at such a young age. My wife was 50 when first referred to the memory clinic. There are a number of people who post here who have young onset. May be a good idea to start a thread of your own with a little info about yourself. I'm sure you would get some helpful responses.

Take care

Thankyou for your reply, I am going to start a thread and see if anyone out there, most people seem to be partners of sufferers, found your article very interesting .
Again thankyou for reply

 

[barlow123]

Young Onset Dementia

Hi, I am new to this website and hope that it will be a source of encouragement for the want of better words. My hubby is 64 years old, I am 59. He was diagnosed with Early Onset Dementia near 7 years ago now. I gave up work 2 years ago to look after him following a heart attack. He also has late stage emphysema and requires oxygen 16 hours a day. I am now finding it difficult to cope with him and these two debilitating illnesses and have been gently advised that in about 4 months time I will need to re-think our lives. I feel so sad about this. My children are very good but it is difficult to put into words how deeply I love him and how hard I find it to 'let go' and want to avoid this.....

 

[christopher2013]

alz at 55 with a daughter of 11

Hiya,
My name is Lynne, my dad was diagnosed with frontal temporal dementia
when he was just 48years old, he is now 53 and is in the advanced stages
My mum and auntie is his main carers but my mum continues to work and
I am at university, I am 21yo and my sister is 16, it's all very hard to cope
with recently especially for my mum and I found this blog through twitter
and I would just like to know if anyone is in a similar situation out there?
it would be nice to talk to someone who can understand fully what it is like,

Many thanks,
Lynne

Hello Lynne,

My name is Nadia, my husband is 55 and was diagnosed +- 5 years ago. I would like to share with you the letter our daughter who is only 11 wrote to her father last week. It resumes it all. I am working and Chris is still at home with a full time carer. I have joined this forum because Chris is British, and we leave in Brussels. He used to speak fluent french but unfortunately is loosing it and I need to talk with people sharing the same experience for my daughter. Because we realise even if the friends and family try to be supportive, I have realised that they are a bit scared because they don't know how to react. Anything with dementia frightens. When I explain to them the changes that Chris is going through on a daily basis they don't realise how difficuIt it is mainly emotionally. It was very difficult for me in the beginning because I was expecting them to understand but they couldn't and still can't. My daughter told me "the illness of my father has taken a part of my innocence". I had to grow up faster than the other children." It is difficult for her because we know nobody in a similar situation. Belgium is a small country and even though the association is amazing, I couldn't find people with young onset alz desease and most of the things going on to help target very old people. Tell your mother that I live with a permanent feeling of guilt and fear because I don't know if what I do is right or wrong. I have to confess that through all the forums I read, very few people dare to say that it is so hard when you are so young and as a patner/carer, you think that your life is chatered. And there are days where you don't know which direction to take. You wonder how long it is going to last and right away you feel guilty to ask such a question. Some people think you are a hero but there is no hero, there is only a all family shatered by the illness and when you have young children you don't have the choice. Please do not hesitate to contact me. I have to ask my daughter if she agrees to share her letter with all of you.

Bonjour à vous tous,

Nadia