Anxiety/Depression over hereditary Alzheimer’s

bookwormRN

My mom has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and my brother and I are working to help her which is overwhelming in itself but I am also really struggling with anxiety and depression as it relates to the hereditary aspect of this disease. My mother, my grandmother and my great grandmother have all had Alzheimer’s and I feel like I’m a ticking time bomb. My grandmother and great grandmother were in their mid to late 80’s when they were diagnosed but my mom just turned 71. My mom has not always had a healthy lifestyle and definitely had more risk factors than the other two,  but the reality is that this awful disease clearly runs through the women in my family. Have any of you faced this issue? How do you handle it? I’ve tried researching Alzheimer’s prevention but it’s all very vague and frankly depressing. Just wondering how others are coping with this….

Rick4407

Hello Bookworm.  That is very tough.  My DW was/is in the same boat.  When we talked about it early on, we more or less went the "concentrate on healthy lifestyle" route.  Our discussions also pointed out that none of us really know how long we have, so we should make the most of every day.  My DW has a son and daughter who may be in line as well.  I have not mentioned it to either that there is a genetic component.  Lastly you do not actually know which genes you have, ones from your mothers side or your fathers side.  

You may want to seek some counseling to just get the anxiety reduced to a "I can live with this level."   My wife was diagnosed 5 years ago at 71.  She's well into stage 6 and has lost much but she is still happy and smiles a lot.    Rick

ninalu

Hi Bookworm,
Yes, I'm with you.

On my worse/pessimist days, I feel like no matter how well I care for myself, I'll still get the disease and there's nothing I can do about it.

On other days, some-to-most of the time, I try to let go of worrying about the future and just be in the now.

Generally, the way I handle it is by minimizing known risk factors and maximizing protective ones. I used to speak with my mom's neurologist about my worry and he said that there's no way to know what treatment advances will happen in the future. His advice was to focus on being well and feeling well now. But he also winked at me and said it's a state of mind thing.... kind of like Rick4407 says, "make the most of every day." A friend of mine likes to say, "don't postpone joy." Another person I admire says, "make sure you sweat and laugh every day."
 
Like any unknown, longer-term thing, for me it has been one day at a time.

Mobile AL

A cousin on my mother's side died from the effects of alzheimers. She was around 57 when she died. My maternal grandmother also had dementia but passed away while in the hospital with pnemonia. She was in the 2nd stage so most people didn't even notice her dementia at that stage.

My father is one of 6 children.  All his brothers and sisters have died with Alzheimer's; he is the only one left. So I understand your position.

I asked my doctor to give me a memory test about 7 years ago so I would have a baseline for the future.  Every couple of years I take another test for comparison. Being my daddy's caregiver at this point, my mind goes into overload sometimes and I forget about some things. The doctor told me if you put your car keys somewhere and can't find them, that is just normal forgetfulness.  If you find your keys and don't know what they are, it could be an early indication of dementia.