EOAD -- family history?

CStrope

Of course when DH was first diagnosed 2 years ago, first question was "is there any family history".  Well, there is not, but my husband did have a bad car accident with head injury when he was in his mid 20's.  

For those with EOAD, I'm interested if your spouse has family history, or any traumatic head injury, or just bad luck.

Simply for my own curiosity, sort of an unofficial survey!

John1965

No family history. 

A head injury a year before diagnosis. She was walking our dog in a park an hit her head on a playground beam.  This injury kept her from participating in an EOAD study.  To be honest, I think she was exhibiting signs before the injury.  

Ed1937

I was reading, or watched a video, saying that familial dementia only occurs in about 5% - 10% of cases. But that doesn't mean that only that many have relatives with dementia - only that it is not passed down.

KathyF1

My husbands mother had Alzheimer’s, his grandfather on his dads side, and his aunt on his dad’s side.  My assumption was that genetics play a part.

Vitruvius

DW has no family history of dementia. She has EO Semantic Dementia (svPPA) which is not well studied but some studies indicate a very low familial connection, <5%. However she was given a DNA analysis which indicated an APOE reading of E3/E4, the E4 part apparently indicates a higher risk of dementia.  No head injuries.

MaryG123

Hi CStrope,

My husband has probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), probable because it can only be diagnosed post mortem.  He had a concussion as a child when he fell off of a balcony, then multiple concussions playing contact sports in high school and college. His symptoms began around age 40 with mood and behavioral issues, and have been slowly progressive.  He now has trouble with memory and speech, and is losing his math skills. There is no family history of any kind of dementia.

Rick4407

My DW 's family could probably make a pretty strong case for some element of genetics in  dementia.  Her Grandmother, Mother, and Brother all had dementia.  My DW's showed up in the early 70's.  None of the next generation has shown up yet but they are all young.

ThisLife

My H has EOAD. Father, Paternal grandfather and aunt had dementia but were well into their 80s, not EO. He's 2nd degree black belt and has had several head injuries from karate matches as well as breaking boards with his head. I feel it's more the head injuries in his case.

sandwichone123

My dh had onset of symptoms in mid-50's, dx at 58. Both parents alive and healthy, no known head injury. His grandmother had Alz, and so did mine, but I question whether that matters much.

CStrope

Thank you all for your responses.  I try and read as much as I can about EOAD.  My son had a LOT of concussions in high school.  Started off with sports, but he became so Susceptible that the least little bump was devastating.  Between my DHs diagnosis and thinking about his accident years ago, makes me worry for my son and his future.

GothicGremlin

My sister Peggy was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's along with Primary Progressive Aphasia(logopenic) at age 58.

As far as I can tell, no one in our family has had any kind of dementia. Right after she was diagnosed, Peggy wanted to have a genetic test done, so I arranged it for her. Nothing showed up.  Also as far as I can tell, there weren't any head injuries, certainly none that I remember as children. Her doctor asked her about head injuries the day she was diagnosed, and Peggy couldn't recall any.  Looking back, she was probably early stage 4 at that time, and still pretty together, so I believe her on that.

So... bad luck? Environmental? I have no idea.

CStrope

Gothic Gremlin thank you for the response.  My DH too has the logopenic variant of Alzheimer's.  I have not found anyone else that has that specific diagnosis.  DH was officially diagnosed at 66, but probably could have been diagnosed at 60, if not earlier.

PlentyQuiet

Dh diagnosed at 61, showing signs in late 50s. Large ALz history on his dad's side, but his dad passed at 82 without showing signs. 

DH also grew up in a home with heavy smokers and smoked himself until his 40s. Add to that some heavier drinking and a few concussions from playing ball. If his is genetic it is not dominant as his dad didn't have it. But maybe it is just a predisposition and then he made bad lifestyle choices. 

I'm worried for my kids as well, but I have landed on repeating the advice of plan well for tomorrow but try to live for today. 

dayn2nite2

My mother had no family history at all.  Change in personality/symptoms in late 50s, a very protracted effort to get her to go to doctor/demand she go to doctor from 60-64, continually told it was "depression" and then a very scary incident where she left work and was actually lost in her vehicle at age 64 where I happened to read "probable Alzheimer's" on a billing form at an appointment after that event.  She died at age 70 after a cardiac event (thankfully) but she was in stage 7 and bedbound at that time anyway.

toolbeltexpert

Cstrope my dw family had several that died at 39 of infarction, but her grandmother was always sweeping the front steps when we visited, which wasn't too often but I think about that now. Her dad died from a hit n run at 60 and I wondered about him he had a major hearing loss which is something that seems to be somehow tied to alz. 

Dw was 56 when I started to question her memory she's 68 now.  Definitely the longest day. I guess that would have been EO if it had been dx back then. I had gotten dw her first hearing aides because I thought "she can't remember because she didn't hear" I found out that wasn't  the case. She had to retire those and this set is 3 years old. Dead again cause she fell asleep with them in.

I have had several major head injuries fractured skull at 6 months, dove into a pool and hit my head, had several motorcycle accidents with concussions, I think I am still pretty good,but lately from all that has happened I find I am a little less focused. 

Plus I have had some pretty serious head scans. Pneumoencgraphs are an old extremely painful type of xray scan. I have had 2 of them. Suspected brain tumor, a later cat scan showed something but it was inoperable and they took the wait and see approach I am still here 50 years later. 

Having my first care plan meeting today for dw at nhf. 

 Good thread Connie.

Faith,Hope,Love

DH had a paternal grandfather with dementia, and I suspect his father had a touch of it.  DH also suffers from severe lead poisoning, and he's loaded with heavy metals.  PCP thinks this caused the dementia.  Neurologist says no, but I've read a lot of articles indicating that this is a likely cause.

Just Bill

I forget the name of the documentary or documentaries I watched, I love watching and watch a lot of them. One was 2 brothers that were boxers, both absorbed equal brain trauma in the ring. One brother is sharp as a tack the other brother is in a home with pugilistic dementia. Another study examined a city that had lots of twins and lots of cases of alzheimers EOD. It seems that this disease is completely random. There might be some causes and preventions that may or may not work but it seems that what medicine knows about dementia is that they don't know anything about it. There are lots of studies now about TBI and CTE from repetitive head trauma, but naturally occurring dementia seems to be totally random.

Lynne D

My husband had a giant ruptured cerebral aneurysm at 56. After recovery, neuropsychological testing showed his intellect intact, but his short term memory obliterated. That affected his executive functioning. He declined slowly and was diagnosed with mixed dementia (Alzheimer’s and vascular) at 63.

fayth

My spouse has EOAD - a very specific and rare kind.  His is Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Disease.  The genetic mutations that cause this were discovered about 30 years ago.  Unfortunately, it strikes early - sometimes as early as the 30's.  My spouse became symptomatic in his late 50's and now, at age 68, is in late stage 7.  His mother and brother both became symptomatic in their 40's and both died when they were 57.   I guess we were 'lucky' that he had about 10 good years more than his mother and brother.  Families with this mutation are of great interest to science, and our family is in a research study.  Fortunately, one of my adult children knows they are free of the mutation.  My other child does not know yet, and it is a heavy weight.