I’m too young to have Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, right?


Nelson Vergel
 




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I’m too young to have Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, right?

photo of an MRI scan of a person's brain with a hand holding a magnifying glass over a portion of it

If you’re in your 80s or 70s and you’ve noticed that you’re having some memory loss, it might be reasonable to be concerned that you could be developing Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia. But what if you’re in your 60s, 50s, or 40s… surely those ages would be too young for Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, right?

Not necessarily. Of the more that 55 million people living with dementia worldwide, approximately 60% to 70% of them have Alzheimer’s disease. And of those 33 to 38.5 million people with Alzheimer’s disease, memory loss or other symptoms began before age 65 in 10% of them. Alzheimer’s is, in fact, the most common cause of young onset dementia. 

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Jerry Turner, POZabilities
 

Thank you for the link to Harvard Health's excellent resource.
University of Washington also has an excellent booklet, "Living With Memory Loss", downloadable here: http://depts.washington.edu/mbwc/resources/living-with-memory-loss
UC Riverside has a study to determine if brain games improve memory. Join here: https://braingamecenter.ucr.edu/train-my-memory/?referrer=home. I joined and play games for 10 minutes twice a day.

Last May I was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment - likely HIV associated cognitive disorder. The news wasn't much of a surprise. Other than using an old school planner, an increased use of post-its, and somewhat more use of the phrase "Please help me remember ....", life is much as it was before the diagnosis.  There are no MCI support groups or self-help groups in my area so it looks like we ancient HIVers must do what we had to do in the past and just make it happen. I am interested in talking to anyone who facilitates or participates in an MCI support group.

Much thanks for your help,

Jerry Turner
Managing Director
POZabilities
jerry@...


Test Tester
 

Thanks for sharing, Jerry. I got tested for the double mutation that increases the risk of Alzheimer’s and gladly I was negative. But that does not mean I may get it. 

My mom has Alzheimer’s and I am always on the lookout for symptoms.

 All the best,

Nelson Vergel

Founder
DiscountedLabs.com
ExcelMale.com


On Dec 6, 2022, at 10:54 AM, Jerry Turner, POZabilities <poz@...> wrote:

Thank you for the link to Harvard Health's excellent resource.
University of Washington also has an excellent booklet, "Living With Memory Loss", downloadable here: http://depts.washington.edu/mbwc/resources/living-with-memory-loss
UC Riverside has a study to determine if brain games improve memory. Join here: https://braingamecenter.ucr.edu/train-my-memory/?referrer=home. I joined and play games for 10 minutes twice a day.

Last May I was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment - likely HIV associated cognitive disorder. The news wasn't much of a surprise. Other than using an old school planner, an increased use of post-its, and somewhat more use of the phrase "Please help me remember ....", life is much as it was before the diagnosis.  There are no MCI support groups or self-help groups in my area so it looks like we ancient HIVers must do what we had to do in the past and just make it happen. I am interested in talking to anyone who facilitates or participates in an MCI support group.

Much thanks for your help,

Jerry Turner
Managing Director
POZabilities
jerry@...


Jeff Taylor
 

Thanks for sharing, Jerry.  As Jules has shared in many of the articles he's posted on this topic, many of us are experiencing subclinical cognitive impairment--whether we know it or not.   Or care to admit.  I've been involved in longterm cohort studies at UCSD for almost 30 yrs, and though I still function fine (though I do misplace my keys more) I can tell on some of the more sensitive tests that I don't perform as well.  Sadly, these studies keep getting their funding cut precisely when more & more of us are experiencing these issues, and they can't afford to continue testing everyone in the cohort, and are limited to only testing those with acute problems.   

For those who are interested, here's a link to a a couple of HARP-PS programs on the topic:  ne featuring Aaron Seits of UCR's Brain Game Institute:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgjYYOLNJOY&t=1437s , andand another featuring Dr Seitz & Dr David Moore from UCSD's Neurobehavioral Research Institute:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apsIfrB0u_Q&t=53s

Jeff

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Jeff Taylor
Co-Moderator