Hi, my name is Jackie. My mother passed away from AD almost 8 years ago. My father was diagnosed with AD/dementia almost two years ago. I thought I was an unusual case having two parents with AD. I post at another site as well and have learned my situation is not at all unusual, sadly. I'm hoping to learn as much as I can in dealing with this disease and I'm hoping to give support where I can and share what I can and in return I hope to gain support, too. I find that there is no one better to talk to or share with, than a person who is dealing with this disease, too.

Hi Jackie,
I'm so glad you've joined us here, both for your own
benefit and ours! I'm so sorry you have had to deal
with this terrible disease twice now. I hope you have
a support system in place for yourself!
Carol

Thank you for the welcome. My husband and daughter are supportive. My sister and I are taking care of my dad, going a step at a time. Having people to talk to who are actual caregivers is wonderful.

Welcome Jackie!

Hi Jackie, welcome to the family... I think about situations such as yours a great deal. Two people that are married and have lived together for such a long time must have shared many of the same habits (lifestyle, and diet, etc.). I look at this from a public health standpoint, trying to tie in any possible causes and connections to environmental influence as a cause for AD. My grandmother is in severe stages of AD, and my grandfather thankfully is still very sharp and AD free; they've been married for over 50 years. It's amazing how sharp the prevalence of AD has increased in the past 50 years. It makes me wonder if there was something in your parents generation that lead to such a dramatic rise in this disease diagnosis, or whether we simply have better medical diagnostics to aid in determining brain atrophy. I probably should have saved this for the general forum, oh well.. welcome again!

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Kat

Thanks for the welcome. Aitan: I think about this, too. I work in a neurology department and when I told one of the researchers that both my parents had AD, she said something strange to me, like people who have the same type of brain chemistry are drawn together. So, I didn't pin her down and get further explanation on that, so I don't fully understand that.

I have been thinking for awhile that the reasons we are seeing more of AD is because people are living longer and we are seeing the degeneration of the brain. People didn't used to live this long, other diseases took them before the brain had a chance to degenerate. We have found cures for cancer, heart disease, we can even do organ transplants. But the brain has continued to elude us. That might just be oversimplified thinking on my part.

My mother did have a big problem with cholesterol and blood pressure and that may have contributed to her AD, she also had borderline diabetes. My father developed diabetes in his late 70's, but I attribute that to my mom's inability to prepare healthy meals because of her dementia and they ate basically fast foods, we didn't know at that time, my mom had dementia. I took over my parents meal preparing when my dad was diagnosed with the diabetes. He went from taking insulin shots, to oral medication, to no medication and controlling his diabetes with diet. Also, neither one were happy in their lives, so that might have something to do with it as well. I don't know, I think there are so many factors intertwined.

I also think that my chances of developing AD are pretty much up there since both parents had it. Again, I ran over to another researcher and asked about this. He didn't seem to think so unless a parent has early onset, then it's perhaps more likely. So many unknowns at this time, research has a long way to go. But polio and other diseases have been cured, I'm just hoping one day AD can be cured, too, or prevented.

Amen! I pray this will happen. This is one horrific disease.

Welcome to our little family. You will find a lot of love and support here. I'm so sorry that you have had to deal with a double dose of this disease. Sometimes life just isn't fair.

Welcome Jackie,

Wow, both parents with AD, that is rough. Glad you are here with us, there are great people here who have a lot of good advice. You are very sweet to care for your father after dealing with your mother.

My mom's MD told me he thought poor nutrition had a lot to do with AD, specifically, bad fats. I read that a lot while researching AD, very interesting. We have changed many things in our diet considering that, I don't want to put my children through AD if I can do anything at all to prevent it.

Take care,

~Kelly~