(Image courtesy of laughingatalzheimers.com)
Alzheimers Disease Sucks – One Memory At A Time is written by Grandma Juice on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative. I’m proud to take part in this sponsored campaign and bring this cause to your attention.
Alzheimers Disease Sucks – One Memory At A Time
Literally. It sucks. One memory at a time. Gone. And it’s more than just a simple “Where did I leave my keys?” You know, normal forgetfulness, or quirky acts of peculiarity. It’s more like… “Who are you?” But that question isn’t from a stranger. It’s coming from your mother, your father, your favorite aunt. A lifetime of love and memories from someone so close, all gone. You look into your loved one’s eyes and the blank stare of nonrecognition you’re getting back, that’s Alzheimers Disease. It’s a gradual descent. A steady, progressive decline in cognitive function that erodes memory, organizational skills and proper judgment. People affected will repeat questions, get lost in familiar areas, forget what they just ate. This leads to moodiness and their personality changes. The changes become severe due to hallucinations, delusions, paranoia and compulsive behaviors. They may become angry and even violent. Hitting, kicking, or screaming out of frustration is now ‘normal’. Your once sweet, kind mom will become angry and aggressive. Your life of the party dad will withdraw from social situations out of embarrassment. Eventually, doing everyday tasks will become nearly impossible. Getting dressed, eating, going to the bathroom all now require aid and supervision. I told you, Alzheimers Disease sucks. It really, really sucks.
(Image courtesy of guidonps.com)
Who Gets Alzheimers Disease?
The simple answer? Anyone can get Alzheimers Disease! About 4.5 million Americans suffer, usually starting after age 60. From there, the number of people with Alzheimer’s Disease doubles every 5 years beyond age 65. Scary as hell, right? And worse, researchers don’t know exactly what causes it. However, they do know some factors that may increase the risk for Alzheimer’s Disease:
- Age. The risk of developing Alzheimers Disease increases with age. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 10% of all people over the age of 65 have Alzheimer’s Disease. As many as 50% of people over age 85 have it.
- Gender. Alzheimer’s disease affects women more frequently than men. (Hear that ladies? On top of everything else, THIS!)
- Family history. Fewer than 1% of people with Alzheimers Disease inherited it. However, it does not discriminate. All races and economic levels are equally at risk.
- Head injury. Some studies have shown a link between Alzheimer’s disease and a significant head injury. (Because of my car accident and TBI, I’m included here as well!)
- Environmental toxins. Some researchers suspect that increased exposure to certain substances such as aluminum may make a person more susceptible.
- Other factors. Research also suggests that high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure may also increase the risk for developing Alzheimer’s.
Who do you know with Alzheimers? USAToday has put together a great series of photos called Famous Faces Of Alzheimers. Included are Singer Glen Campbell, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Charlotte’s Web author E.B. White. Also included is Actor Charlton Heston and most notably former president Ronald Reagan. Take a look! You know these people! And, odds are, you know someone in your own life affected as well.
Help Alzheimers Disease Suck Less Memories and Lives
On typical days, I deliver some sort of humor to your in-boxes. Today, is not that day. Today, I’m asking (begging) you to join the Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative. Please, sign up for the Alzheimer’s Prevention Registry. The Registry, its community and scientific partners are people passionate about combating the disease. All committed to helping end Alzheimer’s without losing another generation of loved ones and friends. They provide regular updates on the latest scientific advances, and information on overall brain health. They also provide potential opportunities to participate in prevention studies. THIS is where we help put an end to Alzheimers Disease!
PLEASE JOIN TODAY!
By joining the Alzheimer’s Prevention Registry, you are helping in the fight to end Alzheimer’s. It’s FREE. It’s EASY. Every person who joins, greatly accelerates the research and helps to improve the chance of ending Alzheimer’s. Before we lose another generation! Alzheimers Disease Sucks! Please help me make it suck less.
This is a horrible disease with an impact that touches almost everyone in some way. I’ve signed the registry. I hope everyone else does as well.
I enjoyed your article and Love your graphic which I pinned immediately!
I didn’t realize there was such a low genetic correlation with it. The impact of this disease is so all-encompassing for the person and their support system. Horrible!
I’m so glad that you posted about this. My grandmother had Alzheimers and it was awful. A co-worker had it too and recently quit. I felt so sad.
Ronni, I’m proud to see you take on such a worthy cause. You may not remember those members of our own family who were afflicted with this horrible disease, but it was terrible to watch.
My mother has early onset dementia at the age of 56. Thank you for bringing awareness to this!!
It is awful, I agree. So hard to watch families go through it!
Ryan’s (my boyfriend of 5.5 years) dad has something called fragile x dementia parkinsons syndrome. His family members have “full blown” fragile x which is passed genetically through the x sex chromosome. For him, it’s less severe but the version he has is like alzheimers and parkinsons combined and it starts earlier than alzheimers – for him he started noticing things like he would lose his keys, forget where he put things, forget birhtdays that he used to always know, etc around age 53. But it wasn’t like once a week like for most people it had gotten to be a daily thing. He also started getting shakey hands. It progresses really quickly – within 2 years he had to walk with a cane. A year later, he was needing a wheel chair for long distances and then a year after that (about four years from the original symtoms) he was completely unable to walk and now he can’t even stand up (Even for a second) without losing his balance so much that he falls over. His memory/brain has declined that quickly as well. It’s very scary and it’s crazy how much it has progressed in the 5.5 years that I have known him. He’s not even 60 yet which makes it even harder to accept. So, I whole heartedly support anything that tries to research the unknowns related to dementia or alzheimers in any way. It’s an awful, awful thing to watch someone go through.
I am glad you posted about this. This is a horrible disease. My grandmother was afflicted with it.
Made a board just for this post. La Tata thank goodness is doing well at 90 or 92, but this has been something she’s been afraid of. Definitely will spread the word on Tweety and Feibu. BB2U
Awww…love the post! Great for awareness.
such a horrible disease a good family friend of ours recently passed away with it :/
Wonderful tips for such a terrible and unfortunate disease. I’m glad you shared because many people don’t realize there are some ways to try to combat it a bit.
Thank YOU!
I watched Alzheimer’s destroy my grandfather, and then my dad. Now I see early on-set signs in my mother. Sadly, I know it will be my future as well.
Wow, it is hard to believe that the inherited disease number is so low. Because BOTH of my mom’s parents had Alzheimers, and she now has it as well as her oldest brother. Maybe our family gene is in that 1% mark.
All I can say is that it DOES suck.
I had no idea that the inherited rates were so low. My husband’s side has several family members with alzheimers so I thought there would be a stronger connection to heredity. It definitely sucks though!
So sad. I used to work in a hospital as a nursing assistant and it was so sad to see people dealing with memory loss. It was even more heartbreaking when they would think I was a family member.
I had no idea that it wasn’t inherited often. I knew it wasn’t totally genetic, but I thought there was at least some connection beyond the fewer than 1%. Thanks for enlightening me!
It really is horrible, I watched my sister in law go through it with her father! Its so tough
My grandmother suffered from dementia before she passed. I totally agree… Alzheimers sucks and I’m glad to see you bringing attention.