When Jamie Tyrone found out that she carries a gene that gives her a 91 percent chance of developing Alzheimers disease beginning around age 65, she sank into a depression so deep that at times she wanted to end her life.
Then she decided to fight back. She exercised. She changed her diet. She began taking nutritional supplements, including fish oil, vitamin D, vitamin B12, curcumin, turmeric and an antioxidant called CoQ10. She started meditating and working mind-bending puzzles, such as Brain HQ. She joined a health clinic whose regimen is shaped by a UCLA medical study on lifestyle changes that can reverse memory loss in people with symptoms of dementia. She started a nonprofit group, Beating Alzheimers By Embracing Science (BABES), to raise money and awareness about dementia.
I found my voice, said Tyrone, 54, a registered nurse who lives in San Diego.
Perhaps the only thing as bad as Alzheimers disease is the fear among a growing number of older Americans that they may be at risk of the neurodegenerative disorder, which robs memory and cognitive ability and is the leading cause of dementia.
[Heres a guide to some of the warning signs of dementia and some perspective]
A 2011 survey for the MetLife Foundation found that the only disease more dreaded than Alzheimers was cancer. A Harris Poll conducted in April for Aegis Living, an assisted-living and Alzheimers care company, found that the worries cross all generations: more than 75 percent of millennials, Generation Xers and baby boomers worry about what will happen to their memory as they age.
Some, like Tyrone, fear Alzheimers because genetic testing shows that their risks are higher than for others. Many more fear Alzheimers because they saw what the incurable disease can do. They saw a parent, a grandparent or other beloved relative slip away in the twilight of their lives through the steady erosion of memory, cognition and identity as the disease progressed. Now they worry whenever they misplace something or forget a name, and vow that they will do whatever they can to prevent or delay its onset.
Its my nightmare: the loss of my mind; the inability to recognize people who are dear to me; the ability to think, said Charles Goldman, 71, a semi-retired attorney who lives in Silver Spring, Md. Goldman, whose mother had Alzheimers, said he is vigilant for possible lapses in his own memory, but he also does everything he can to lower his risk of developing dementia. He works out at a Montgomery County recreation center. He reads like crazy, both fiction and nonfiction. He follows the news about possible new treatments or research studies. He does the crossword puzzles of every Sunday paper he can get his hands on. He gobbles almonds.
I can accept the idea I wont be able to run 10K races. I cant accept not being able to understand what people are saying or recognize people.
Joanne Omang, a former Washington Post correspondent, also watched her mother die of Alzheimers and saw how dementia transformed her and others.
People become like children in many ways. They steal food. They fight having baths. They become violent in many ways, she said.
Its different than death, and in some ways worse, the way her own mother seemed to disappear before her eyes, Omang said.
Like others, that was enough to spur her into action. Omang doesnt consider herself a worrier, but when I simply cannot remember the name of someone or something, when I know that I know it, I do ask myself, Is this a sign?
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/fear-of-alzheimers-is-everywhere-but-its-spurring-some-people-to-change-their-lives-for-the-better/2015/07/04/c0600046-192a-11e5-93b7-5eddc056ad8a_story.html
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