How Soon Do You Want To Learn You Have Alzheimer’s?

Health Wellness

Alzheimer’s is a disease affects over 5 million Americans. It is a progressive and irreversible disease of the brain. Over time, it gradually impairs memory and thinking abilities. In time, the disease progresses to the point that even simple daily tasks become impossible and eventually, it causes death.

Most people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s from the mid-60s and older. For older people, it’s the third leading cause of death, behind heart disease and cancer.

Many of us know someone in our family or someone else’s family who has or had Alzheimer’s. Fortunately, there is no one in my family who has ever been diagnosed with the terrible affliction, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen to me.

Just because most cases of Alzheimer’s are detected when a person in 65 or older, that doesn’t mean it can’t strike a younger person. When it does, it’s referred to as ‘early-onset Alzheimer’s’.

So, how soon is soon enough to learn that you or your loved one had Alzheimer’s?

For some, the sooner they learn about the affliction, the better it is for them, as in the case of Jose Belardo of Lansing, Michigan. He had a good career with the US Public Health Service and had been part of teams that responded to disasters in Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Nicaragua.

In his late 40s, he forgot his wedding anniversary. He and his wife Elaine chocked it up to his being tired and overworked, but then he forgot it the next year also, something that Jose had never done before.

At 50, Jose decided to get an evaluation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. They ran a barrage of tests, including some cognitive tests. Then he underwent an amyloid PET scan of his brain. The scan looks for the sticky clumps of amyloid proteins that can collect in the brain. Finding them often leads to a determination of Alzheimer’s, but not always. Sometimes, perfectly health older people are found to have amyloid clumps in the brain.

Through all of the testing, doctors determined that Jose had early-onset Alzheimer’s.

The diagnosis was a shock to Jose, but one he preferred to know now instead of much later. Learning about the disease early on is allowing Jose and his family to prioritize life. They are determined not to let the disease rule their lives.

Jose stated:

“I’ve got responsibilities, man. I can’t go away. I’ve got kids. I’ve got graduations coming up. I’ve got all this stuff coming up. I’m not going to let Alzheimer’s take that away from me. That’s for sure.”

To many people the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s is so frightening, they let the diagnosis take over their lives. They feel doomed to die sooner than they wanted and they wallow in their misery and worry about everything.

For Jose, learning early on is seen as a blessing.

So, how soon is soon enough for you? Would you want to know early on or wait until it’s unavoidable? How will you let it affect your life? Will you dwell on your demise or will you live life to the fullest while you can?

Only you can answer those questions for yourself, but they are ones you may want to address regardless of what age you are or what disease it might be.

Alzheimer’s Disease

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