Alzheimer's Disease Affects the Whole Family

Nancy Reagan called Alzheimer's disease "the long goodbye". She was right. When a loved one has Alzheimer's Disease you lose a little piece of them each day. It can be heart breaking to watch someone you love slowly slipping away.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain disorder that affects 4.5 million Americans. The disease can also have a major impact on the family as well as the individual who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. The roles of parent and child are reversed. You take on the role of the parent caring for the person that used to take care of you.

Alzheimer's disease gradually destroys a person's memory. Their long term memory may be better than their short term memory. My dad could tell you something that happened when he was a child but couldn't remember what he had done 20 minutes earlier. Most days he thought he was back in the army during WWII. People with Alzheimer's disease die an average of 8 years after first experiencing symptoms. The duration of the disease can vary from 3 to 20 years. Research has shown that effective care and support can improve the quality of life for those with Alzheimer's disease and for their caregivers, over the course of the disease. Symptoms can start to appear long before a person is diagnosed. Scientists believe that damage to the brain begins years before the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease appear. It is also believed that the nerve cells that process, store and retrieve information have already begun to degenerate and die.

Family members and close friends may be the first ones to notice the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer's Association encourages you to consult a physician if you notice symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in yourself or in someone you know. A person may realize they aren't remembering things as well as they used to and just pass it off as part of getting old. The thought of losing their memory and possibly forgetting the names of loved ones and close friends can be overwhelming for them as well as for their family. I have always told people that even if my dad forgot me in his mind. I knew he would never forget me in his heart.

My dad had Alzheimer's disease. He was the type of person that could find his way to somewhere he had never been before just by having the street address and nothing else. Then he started forgetting how to get to places he had been going to for most of his life. It was so hard to watch Alzheimer's disease was doing to him. The person that had loved me and cared for me all of my life could no longer care for himself.

It is very important to find a physician who will listen to the concerns of family members and the individual who is experiencing the symptoms. A well experienced physician can diagnose the disease with 90% accuracy. If you are not comfortable with a physician's diagnosis or feel they are not taking your concerns seriously you have the right to seek a second opinion. When my dad's doctor would not listen to our concerns we went to a different doctor who was willing to listen.

An early diagnosis can enable an individual to be involved in making plans for their future. It is important to work together to decide how their finances will be handled. No one really wants to think about putting their loved one in a nursing home, but it is very important to discuss this subject while your loved one is still able to participate in making the decision. Visit several facilities together and discuss which ones will be suitable for your loved one if the time comes that they are no longer able to live at home. Funerals are another subject that is difficult to discuss but it is important to know what a person's wishes are while they are still able to help make these decisions. My dad had always said that he wanted a graveside military service. We honored his wish.

More than 70% of people with Alzheimer's disease live at home. Family members and friends provide most of their care. With the progression of the disease more physical, emotional and financial stress is placed on caregivers. They assume growing responsibilities that may include meeting physical needs, managing daily routines and making important medical and legal decisions. There may come a time when a family member will need to be appointed legal guardian of the person with Alzheimer's disease. My name was put on my dad's checking account so that I could write checks for his utility bills that were overdue but when I called the utility company to find out the final balance I was told that they could not give me that information because I was not his legal guardian and I didn't have power of attorney over his finances.

It is very important for caregivers to have time away from their responsibilities. Caring for someone with Alzheimer's disease can be very demanding and very stressful. As a caregiver you need to take care of yourself so that you will be able to care for your loved one. Ask friends and family members if they could stay with your loved one for an hour or two so that you can get out of the house. You can use this time to run errands, go out to lunch or just relax and take care of yourself for a change. There are support group meetings where you will be able to talk with other people who are dealing with the same situations you are dealing with. For more information on meetings in your area please contact the Alzheimer's Association at www.alz.org.

Alzheimer's disease also takes an enormous toll on society. The cost of caring for the 4.5 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease is estimated to be at least $100 billion dollars annually. By the time the entire generation of baby boomers are over the age of 65, the number of Americans with Alzheimer's disease will rapidly rise to levels that may exceed our ability to absorb the added cost. A strategy to delay the onset of Alzheimer's by 5 years could cut in half, the number of affected individuals over the next 50 years.

Currently there is no cure for Alzheimer's, but new treatments are on the horizon.

Scientists have gained detail understanding of the basic disease processes at work in the brain of those individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Experts believe that several of the processes may offer promising targets for a new generation of treatments to prevent, slow or even reverse damage to the nerve cells.