As we all may know, dealing with Alzheimer’s is a serious task. But did you know that the disease can affect younger individuals as well? It’s not just for people who are older anymore. We came across this magazine article, one of which was an older issue of U.S. News & World Report from December of 2006. Now we know that this was 4 years ago, but it was shocking to see the cover and then the details inside were grim. On the cover there is a photo of a relatively young woman who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The title of the article is “The New Face of Alzheimer’s,” and it talks about why more younger people are being diagnosed with this devastating disease.
Before reading it, we had expected to hear about people in their lower 50′s being told they have Alzheimer’s. But upon further reading we became shocked to learn that even some people in their 30′s are being given the grim news. The article says “It afflicts people in their 50′s, their 40′s, and even in their 30′s.” More and more younger people are showing up at doctor’s offices and support group meetings than ever before. Some of the individuals had it to the point where they were actually being put into assisted living homes because the disease was moving so rapidly.
The article spotlights several people at various (mostly younger) ages, and describes their daily lives, and how they are coping. The article also talks about hopeful new medications and therapies that will attempt to tackle this disease head-on, including Secretase modulators, immunotherapy, and others that are currently being tested for safety and effectiveness. It had talked about how the disease being spotted to early in younger people were able to remedy it faster but still there has been no cure or any kind of progress. The only thing that seemed to be going for these younger people was that they were in good health and their bodies and brain were still able to fight off diseases easier than someone in their later years.
This was a sad article to come across, but nevertheless this information must be brought to people's attention. Ignoring this dreadful disease will not make it go away. We do our best to help as many people as we can and take pride in what we do. If you know a loved one who is afflicted with this disease and feel as tough things are grim, contact us and we will be glad to help.
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