What If It’s Alzheimer’s? Four Critical Questions

No one wants to have a loved one diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. There’s nothing more painful and chilling than learning your loved one has dementia. By Marie Marley +Alzheimer's Reading Room  More than five million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease. It takes an average of 30 months from the time family members notice the first symptoms of dementia until the person is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. There are several reasons for this, but one of the principal ones is that family members hesitate to take their loved one to a doctor, fearing that the diagnosis will in fact turn out to be Alzheimer’s. Subscribe to the Alzheimer's Reading Room Email: Alzheimer’s is, above all, an insidious illness. It begins with very mild symptoms - things we all do from time to time, such as forgetting to turn off the stove, temporarily forgetting an acquaintance’s name, or misplacing the car keys. But for the person with dementia, these events will become more frequent, and with time ,more serious symptoms will appear. The illness sometimes progresses so slowly that friends and family members can be in total denial. They may try to explain away the symptoms, push them to the back of their minds, or make excuses for the person. Loved ones can remain in denial for months or even years. I was in denial about the symptoms of my loved one, Ed, around three years, as narrated in my memoir. When he started mixing up names I just th...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - Category: Dementia Authors: Source Type: blogs