Alzheimers how early can you get it

Misplacing things from time to time and retracing steps to find them. Individuals may experience changes in judgment or decision-making. For example, they may use poor judgment when dealing with money or pay less attention to grooming or keeping themselves clean. Making a bad decision or mistake once in a while, like neglecting to change the oil in the car.

As a result, he or she may withdraw from hobbies, social activities or other engagements. They may have trouble keeping up with a favorite team or activity.

Sometimes feeling uninterested in family or social obligations. They can become confused, suspicious, depressed, fearful or anxious. They may be easily upset at home, with friends or when out of their comfort zone.

Developing very specific ways of doing things and becoming irritable when a routine is disrupted. Get checked. The changes are often subtle and tend to involve short-term memory.

An older person may be able to remember events that took place years ago but not what they had for breakfast. Other symptoms of changes in short-term memory include forgetting where they left an item, struggling to remember why they entered a particular room, or forgetting what they were supposed to do on any given day.

Another early symptom of dementia is struggling to communicate thoughts. A person with dementia may have difficulty explaining something or finding the right words to express themselves.

Having a conversation with a person who has dementia can be difficult, and it may take longer than usual to conclude. A change in mood is also common with dementia. Depression , for instance, is typical of early dementia. Along with mood changes, you might also see a shift in personality. One typical type of personality change seen with dementia is a shift from being shy to outgoing.

This is because the condition often affects judgment. Apathy , or listlessness, commonly occurs in early dementia. A person with symptoms could lose interest in hobbies or activities. They may not want to go out anymore or do anything fun.

They may lose interest in spending time with friends and family, and they may seem emotionally flat. A subtle shift in the ability to complete normal tasks may indicate that someone has early dementia. This usually starts with difficulty doing more complex tasks like balancing a checkbook or playing games that have a lot of rules.

Along with the struggle to complete familiar tasks, they may struggle to learn how to do new things or follow new routines. Someone in the early stages of dementia may often become confused.

When memory, thinking, or judgment lapses, confusion may arise as they can no longer remember faces, find the right words, or interact with people normally. Confusion can occur for a number of reasons and apply to different situations. Difficulty following storylines may occur due to early dementia. This is a classic early symptom. A few hundred people have genes that directly contribute to Alzheimer disease. These people start showing symptoms of the disease in their 30s, 40s, or 50s.

Experts don't know what triggers the start of Alzheimer disease. They suspect that 2 proteins damage and kill nerve cells. Fragments of one protein, beta-amyloid, build up and are called plaques.

Twisted fibers of another protein, tau, are called tangles. Almost everyone develops plaques and tangles as they age. But those with Alzheimer disease develop many, many more. At first, these plaques and tangles damage the memory areas of the brain. Over time, they affect more areas of the brain. Experts don't know why some people develop so many plaques and tangles, or how they spread and damage the brain. For most people with early-onset Alzheimer disease, the symptoms closely mirror those of other forms of Alzheimer disease.

Trouble solving basic problems, such as keeping track of bills or following a favorite recipe. The current diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer disease relies on detecting the signs of mental decline noted above. Your healthcare provider can then diagnose Alzheimer disease with a few tests. First, your healthcare provider asks about your health history, and also does cognitive tests of memory, problem solving, and other mental skills.

Depending on the results of the office-based cognitive testing, your provider may also request that you have more detailed testing done with a neuropsychologist. Your provider might also test your blood, urine, and spinal fluid.

These give your provider a closer look at brain tissue to show how much damage there is. In the future, researchers hope that studies on biomarkers will allow experts to diagnose the disease more quickly.

Biomarkers are proteins in the body, or other types of markers, that reliably indicate the progress of a disease. Early-onset Alzheimer disease currently has no cure. But healthcare providers have been successful in helping people maintain their mental function, control behavior, and slow the progress of the disease. Results have been mixed, but these medicines seem to help people with their symptoms for anywhere from a few months to a few years.

Other treatments that may play a role in slowing the progress of early-onset Alzheimer disease include physical activity, cardiovascular and diabetes treatments, antioxidants, and cognitive training. A number of studies are ongoing in this area, and researchers are learning new things about Alzheimer disease every day. Recently, some evidence showed that detecting the disease early can lead to better treatment options.

Early-onset Alzheimer disease can be a difficult disease to cope with.