So, what is early onset Alzheimer’s and what willhappen to me going forward?
I have always liked to tackle stuff head on and in myyounger years at a full run.However, with age I have also learned to educatemyself so that whatever comes my way is not a surprise.
So, with that in mind - There are 7 stages ofAlzheimer’s and I believe that I am currently in stage 3.
The main difference between normal Alzheimer’s andearly onset is the age it begins. It’s considered "early onset" ifyou are under 65. Sadly, the other difference is that early onset Alzheimer’smoves through the 7 stages at an increased rate. Research suggests that theaverage life expectancy for a person when diagnosed with early onsetAlzheimer’s isbetween four and eight years.
Can I just take a moment to talk about the word"Alzheimer’s?" Alzheimer’s draws its name after the person whodiscovered it, Rd. Alois Alzheimer. He was a psychiatrist in the late 1930sworking in Frankfurt, Germany as a caregiver for psychiatric patients at theCommunity Hospital for Mental and Epileptic Patients.
I am sure he was a lovely man but my real issue isthis - I am not the world's best speller at the best of times and right now mybrain is slowly shrinking making it harder for me to introduce new informationwhich I can hold onto. So, at a time when I am struggling, I am expected toremember how to spell something with y and a z!!! It's simply not fair :-)
Dementia is like the CEO if you were doing anorganisation chart and there are a number of managers or sub categories whichlive under that umbrella. Going forward I am just going to refer to mycondition as dementia - firstly, I can spell it and at a certain point alldementia presents in similar ways as it moves through the stages no matter whatits title is to begin with.