Generally when we think about dementia, we think about older people, usually in their 60s and older, but how often do you think about a form of dementia hitting adults in the 40s and 50s?

Have you ever heard of Frontotemporal Dementia or Frontotemporal Degeneration, also referred to as FTD and it doesn’t stand for flower delivery?

I knew of a brilliant preacher in Australia who began exhibiting some strange behaviors. At first it was thought he was having some sort of midlife crisis or mental breakdown, until tests showed that a major portion of his brain was shrinking. In the matter of just a couple of years, he went from being a brilliant preacher to a complete invalid before he died in his mid-40s. He left a wife and several kids who were still in school. He was the brother of my boss at the time.

What he suffered from was FTD, a condition that is often misdiagnosed and blamed on other things. After all, who would think of testing for dementia in someone in the 40s?

According to The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, the majority of cases of FTD is first diagnosed between the ages of 45 to 64 and in some cases as young as 20.

The disease usually begins with changes in behavior, language and movement. In one case, a husband and father began acting different and was fired from his job at the time his wife was pregnant with their 4th child. He began eating and eating and eating. His wife locked up the food, so he kept going to the store to buy more food. When they ran out of money, he began stealing food. When asked, he had no clue that he was doing anything wrong.

According to Alzheimers.net, there are 10 things to watch for that could be signs of FTD:

1. Poor judgment
2. Loss of empathy
3. Socially inappropriate behavior
4. Lack of inhibition
5. Repetitive compulsive behavior
6. Inability to concentrate or plan
7. Frequent, abrupt mood changes
8. Speech difficulties
9. Problems with balance or movement
10. Memory loss

While Alzheimer’s and most forms of dementia take years to progress, the average lifespan for someone diagnosed with FTD is about 7-13 years. Yes, FTD is fatal and there is no known cure. Worse yet is that there is no treatment known at this time that slows down the progression of the disease, but there is a lot of research ongoing that could provide some hope in the future.

What makes FTD so debilitating is that it causes cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain to die and thus the brain shrinks in size. The cells continue to die until they eventually kill the person.

So, if you know of anyone in their 40s and 50s that begins acting abnormally but are not aware of it, it could be FTD and it’s best to be checked.