Early onset Alzheimer’s disease is a variant of Alzheimer’s disease that often affects people’s memory especially when they are between the age of 40 to 60. Alzheimer’s disease is the common form of dementia that not only affects your thinking and memory but also changes your behavior. It also affects your cognitive function that leads to changes in your daily activities and function. Alzheimer’s disease usually affects older adults but if you’re around the age of 30 to 40, you also can develop the conditions. But studies say that when Alzheimer’s disease happens in a person younger than age 6, it is called early onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
Studies show that a very small number of people with Alzheimer’s disease have early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Most of them are between the ages of 40 to 50.
According to researchers, the diagnosis of early onset of Alzheimer’s disease is often delayed because it happens at an age where people usually discount their symptoms as stress-induced. Therefore, before the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease,the other mental diseases that commonly affect this age group should be ruled out. As this is a brain affecting disease, it causes a great decline in thinking abilities and memory.
In this article, you will learn about symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and risk factors of early onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Types of Early Onset Aleheimer’s Disease
As it is a well known type of dementia it is categorized as a mental health condition. Alzheimer’ s disease affects your memory and cognitive abilities.
According to research sources,in the United States nearly 7 million people and around 60 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. It is also known as younger onset because people are diagnosed with this condition usually in their 40s or 50s.
Most types of early onset of Alzheimer’s disease have similar symptoms but a few distinctions make it possible to differentiate between them.
On the basis of distinctive factors, early onset of Alzheimer’s disease can be categorized into two types:
Common Alzheimer’s Disease: this type of early onset has common symptoms as general; fir of Alzheimer’s disease. The disease progresses in the same way as the common type done to older people.
Genetic Alzheimer’s Disease: this is a rare film that is caused by the genetic malfunction. Very less number of people have such genes that directly contribute to the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Their symptoms become visible around the age of 30s, 40s or 50s.
Symptoms of Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease is another name of dementia. Dementia refers to a memory loss and disturbance in other mental abilities that directly affect your daily activities.
If you found any of the following symptoms in you or any loved one, be careful because these are signs of developing early onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Memory Loss
Forgetfulness is the major indication for memory loss. You start losing memory and forgetting important things or events. Forgetting important dates and incidents make your life miserable. You feel that you need frequent reminders or repetitive questioning to remember some events or things. This is the sign that you should contact your mental healthcare provider.
Difficulty Planning and Problem Solving
Early onset Alzheimer’s disease affects you more badly if you don’t work on developing a plan of action to treat the condition. You may find it difficult to work with numbers. This happens mostly when you start demonstrating problems maintaining monthly bills or checkbooks.
Difficulty Completing Familiar Tasks
A common symptom that is associated with early onset Alzheimer’s disease is lack of concentration. You may start experiencing problems with concentration that proves a hurdle in completing even familiar tasks. As the disease progresses, you feel that routine day-to-day tasks have become more difficult to perform accurately. You start taking more time to complete your daily routine tasks.
Other symptoms appear as inability to survive safely and get lost while driving a commonly traveled route.
Difficult Determining Time or Place
Miscalculations for the passage of time and losing track of dates when early onset Alzheimer’ s disease occurs. You find difficulty keeping track of details and this affects your future events planning.
You may become more forgetful, as the symptoms of Alzheimer’s progress. You start forgetting things, where they belong to, why they’re there or how they go there. As disease progresses, you start losing vision. Vision loss leads to difficulty in reading. You cannot judge distance and lose the ability to determine contrast or color when driving.
Difficulty Finding the Right Words
People who are affected with early onset Alzheimer’s disease often find it difficult to join or initiate a conversation. And when they are busy in some conversation, they pause in the middle. It seems you have forgotten how to finish a sentence.
This happens due to impaired memory. You start conversing repetitively and experience difficulty in finding the right words for specific items.
Misplacing Items Often
You lose memory, therefore, begin putting items in unusual places. You find it difficult to retrace your steps to find the lost items.
As the early onset Alzheimer’s occurs, you start forgetting where objects are placed combined with mistrusting others. You become suspicious about other people and think that they’re stealing your items.
Difficulty Making Decisions
Decision making is a powerful ability. Many people are censored for their decision-making powers. But as a victim of early insert Alzheimer’s you may experience difficulty in decision making.
You cannot make correct decisions while doing some business dealings. Your financial decisions become a problem for you and often cause financial loss if someone who loves you doesn’t step in to rescue you.
Another symptom is losing concern about your physical hygiene. You experience a decline in bathing frequency and a lack of interest in changing clothes on a daily basis.
Withdrawing from Social Events and Work
As symptoms progress, you experience a lack of interest in attending community events or going to work. You start becoming withdrawn from common social gatherings, work projects or even for your favorite hobbies that were previously important for you. As symptoms get worse, you start avoiding meetups.
Experiencing Personality and Mood Changes
Alzheimer’s causes extreme swings in personality and mood. Common examples for mood swings are:
- Anxiety.
- Confusion.
- Fearfulness.
- Depression.
Another prominent symptom is increased irritation when something occurs outside the typical routine. This makes you hyper and aggressive.
Who’s at Greater Risk for Developing Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease?
Medical science has provided proof for the close association between advancing age and Alzheimer’s disease but it doesn’t mean that everyone who has advanced age is at risk of the condition.
Studies show that most people affected with Alzheimer’s disease were diagnosed with these diseases in their 80s.
The risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease increases if your parents, siblings or children have the side effects. If more than one family member has Alzheimer’s disease that risk for you increases many folds.
Another study has found that some races like Native Alaskans, African Americans and Native Americans are more likely to develop early onset Alzheimer’s disease compared to other races. In the United States, around 250, 000 TO 650, 000 people get infected with early onset Alzheimer’s disease every year.
Common Causes of Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
Although medical researchers have not determined the exact cause of the condition. But many researchers have claimed that multiple factors contribute to developing disease instead of a single cause. They also propose that rare genes have been observed that directly take part in causing Alzheimer’s in early ages. These genes are:
- Presenilin-2 (PS2) on chromosome 1.
- Amyloid precursor protein (APP) on chromosome 21.
- Presenilin-1 (PS1) on chromosome 14.
These genes continue to transfer from one to the other generation within a family. If they become active in a person who is younger than 60 years, it appears as early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Symptoms occur earlier than expected in such cases.
According to research, only 5% to 10% gene mutants cause the condition. But other risk factors are more obvious and frequent causes of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Prevention of Disease
It is not possible to prevent early onset Alzheimer’s disease. But there are ways to reduce the risk of developing diseases.
However, medical studies show that people who took steps to prevent Alzheimer’s symptoms earlier also develop it in their old age. Some examples of lifestyle changes that can help reduce the risk have been jotted below:
- Engage yourself in lifelong learning.
- Avoid traumatic brain injuries.
- Do some exercise on a daily basis.
- Protect some cognitive training.
- Eat a heart-healthy diet.
- Stay active mentally and socially.
Diagnosis of the Disease
If you experience great difficulty in performing day-to-day tasks or an increased memory loss that is affecting your daily life badly, talk with your doctor as soon as possible. They may observe your symptoms and may refer you to an Alzheimer’s specialist if necessary. This is because in case of early onset Alzheimer’s disease the symptoms seem to resemble many other conditions like depression or stress.
In addition, no specific test has been found that can help diagnose Alzheimer’s accurately. Therefore, many tools are used to arrive at a diagnosis including:
- Blood tests.
- Cognitive tests.
- Brain imaging like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) or positron emission tomography (PET) scans.
- Neurological exam.
- Reviewing medical and family history.
- Medical exam.
- Talking with family members about changes they’ve observed.
Researchers prefer blood tests when it comes to diagnosing early.Alzheimer’s. Because blood tests help identify the properties associated with Alzheimer’s disease in your blood. However, more research is needed.
Treatment Options
Till date, there’s no cure for early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Identifying the symptoms of disease only can help to manage the symptoms.
Sometimes doctors use medications to help improve memory loss or decrease sleeping troubles. Common medications used for this purpose are:
- Donepezil
- Galantamine.
- Memantine.
- Revastigmione.
However, researchers are still trying to find out possible alternative treatments for the disease.
In addition, some changes in lifestyle habits or activities can also help improve the condition.
For example:
- Doing aerobic exercises.
- Doing relaxation exercises like stretching to reduce stress.
- Getting enough exposure to natural light.
- Eating nutritious food.
- Maintaining a familiar environment.
- Limiting or eliminating alcohol consumption.
Early onset Alzheimer’s affects people’s life activities when they are in their 40s or 50s. This makes their social, professional and economic life disruptive. Therefore, the managing techniques used for Alzheimer’s usually focus on age-appropriate support, such as:
- Vision therapy.
- Occupational therapy.
- Speech therapy.
What Should You Do for Fighting against Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease?
When a person is diagnosed with the disease, it becomes a matter of worry for them. But the good thing is that you always have time to put together a plan to avail peace of mind for future symptoms when they get intensified.
The first step is to create a plan with your family members, friends and colleagues. You can also add your medical team for a professional opinion.
Considering these key points can help you prepare a best working plan:
Education: Learn more about Alzheimer;s symptoms and treatment options. A best care plan can protect you from further complications.
Health Insurance: Try to find a list of medications and treatment options that are covered by your health insurance plan.
Disability Insurance: What facilities can your employer provide you? And what if documentation is required to avail this benefit?
Loss of Income: You need to evaluate your financial sources. Because after you stop working you must need proper finance. Contact with your family members if they have time to take care of your expenses.
Power of Attorney: Nominate a person who will have the authority to make decisions about your financial, legal and health decisions during the time when you will not be able to do so.
Support: Try to join a support group consisting of people with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. The similar life situations bring you closer to them.
Conclusion
Early onset Alzheimer’s disease affects your memory and cognitive abilities. The symptoms may worsen with the passage of time. After 3 to 4 years the official diagnosis of the disease becomes possible because symptoms can be identified more clearly at this stage.
After having a clear diagnosis, the second stage symptoms start appearing. This causes severe cognitive impairment. And at the last stage, people enter a severe form of dementia where they lose independence. This is the most severe form of disease when people forget the names of their loved ones and family members.
There’s no cure for these diseases but just some managing techniques can help reduce the severity of symptoms.
