Is That 'Midlife Crisis' Really Alzheimer's Disease?

Pedro_P

Early-onset Alzheimer's disease presents unique challenges, when a patient is still working or parenting children. The personality changes involved can result in job loss or divorce before a diagnosis is made.
Credit: Shutterstock
▼ Imagine you tell your 55-year-old mom you're going to get married and she's too disorganized to help you with the wedding preparations. Or you put your kids on the bus to elementary school and the 57-year-old driver forgets the route.
These are real scenarios, drawn from my clinical work with patients who have young-onset Alzheimer's disease.
This is the other face of dementia — no white hair or wrinkles. And it is relatively common. Approximately
While the underlying pathology of both young-onset and late-onset Alzheimer's is the same — the abnormal accumulation of  proteins called amyloid and tau in the brain— there are significant differences in how the two diseases are experienced.
Patients who are under 65, for example, often have difficulties with language, visual  processing and organizing and planning. They have less of the classic memory complaints.
There is also accumulating evidence that  young-onset Alzheimer's progresses faster.
Dementia confused with depression
The path to a diagnosis of Alzheimer's or other dementia is often long, meandering and riddled with misdiagnosis.
A correct diagnosis is essential for every patient but especially important for younger people. They are often still working and at risk of losing their jobs. They may have young children. When they tell people that something isn't quite right, they are told they are depressed or must be going through a midlife crisis.

Personality changes involved in Alzheimer's disease can be misinterpreted as indifference, or cause conflict in relationships.
Credit: Shutterstock
Many times, younger patients will notice changes in their cognition at very early stages. They may notice increased difficulty in organization or planning. They may forget how to do complex tasks or forget appointments. Cognitive impairment is more obvious when completing highly demanding tasks at work or co-ordinating family logistics.
When a young person goes to see their doctor and reports such changes in cognition, the "d" word brought up is usually depression and not dementia.
Until the correct diagnosis is made, there can be many misinterpretations of their changes in thinking — resulting in conflicts with family, friends and colleagues.
Divorce before diagnosis (▪ ▪ ▪)

► Please, read the full note here: Source

harpreetsembhi

we need more target research to address this issue.