Early Onset Alzheimer's On The Rise

(CBS)  The number of Americans with Alzheimer's is soaring. It's expected to hit sixteen million by the middle of this century, more than triple the current total.

More and more victims of this incurable disease will be shockingly young.

CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann visited one family coping with early-onset Alzheimer's.

For Bob Balfour, the scary reminder is every time … he just can't remember.

"I'll go down into the basement to where my tools are, and I'll forget what it is," he told Strassmann.

Bob has Alzheimer's disease and while it's usually thought of as disease of the elderly, that's not necessarily so.

Bob's wife Trish - and a bulletin board in their kitchen - plan his every move.

Only fifty-three years old, he's increasingly confused.

Physically, Balfour's in great shape, but as a construction manager, he started making math mistakes. He was fired. Doctors eventually diagnosed the underlying issue.

He's one of a half-million Americans with early-onset Alzheimer's, people under 65 with the disease. Ten percent of all Alzheimer's patients get it early - the youngest on record was seventeen.

"People are still working, they have families, it affects them in a much different way than if they'd been retired for ten years as is often the case," says Dr. Alan Levey, director of Alzheimer's Research at Emory University.

Janet Balfour, Bob's mother, died of Alzheimer's young, at sixty-one.

This family's new worries go well beyond Bob. The Balfours have early onset familial Alzheimer's, a rare genetic condition. The gene was also passed to David Balfour, Bob's younger brother. His Alzheimer's is already more advanced than Bob's.

So their father has to care for his son, just as he did for his wife.

"As the dad, are you prepared for that," Strassmann asked Bob Balfour, Sr., "if both sons progress?"

"I've got to do it," he answered, but then added, "I'm not prepared."

Bobby Balfour, Bob's 18-year-old son, needs to prepare himself, too. Genetically, he has a fifty-fifty chance of getting the disease.

"So yeah, that certainly comes into your mind," he told Strassmann, "but I guess there's a lot of optimism as well in my family."

They're a positive family, pushing for research on drugs to slow Bob's disease and hoping for a miracle. But no one outruns this disease. No one survives Alzheimer's.

Sitting down with Bob and Trish, Strassmann told them that their son said his parents were madly in love with each other.

"We are," Trish agreed with a laugh. "We really are. It's hard for me, but then, the good part is - that I've been married for twenty-three years to my best friend. If I spend the rest of these eight or ten years that I have left with Bob being upset, being depressed, I'm going to miss out on some wonderful times with him."

They're in this for the long run, they say, however long it goes.

[drinuk]

No Surprise, Fluoride and aluminium salts in Drinking water, Aspartame and MSG in over six thousand products on supermarket shelves and falsely and illegally approved drugs in the pharmacy. We are bombarded with poisons from every Corporate Criminal in America, whether it be to save a few bucks or to make Big Bucks.

The Government we employ as our protectors are failing us miserably, they are Not Fit For Purpose.

[jetlizhan]

keno_03

thanks for the website address - i pulled it up and printed it - very interesting.

[jetlizhan]

my mom has alzheimer''s and it''s hell - it''s hell for her and it''s really hell on the caregiver - which is me. holding down a job, running 2 households, cooking for 2 households is HELL. but when you love someone, you do what you gotta do. if this was me, i''d want my son to do the same for me. i just take one day at a time - that''s all one can do - if i looked at this ''long range''time - i''d go completely crazy. alzheimer''s disease has no mercy.

[keno_03]

Scientists discover way to reverse loss of memory http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-discover-way-to-reverse-loss-of-memory-775586.html

[Snerdguy]

My Father started showing signs of Alzheimer''s disease in his early seventies. My family read about different treatments and tried different things until we found what seemed to slow it down quite a bit. Besides taking his medicine, we kept him stimulated. We talk with him and we made him walk with assistance until he couldn''t do it any more. We kept him on a routine and took him outside and for rides as much as possible. We used photo books and showed him movies that he liked.

Studies are showing that both tactile and mental stimulation help strengthen the synaptic bridges that form our memories much like exercise strengthens your muscles. My father''s Alzheimer''s disease has recently gone beyond what can be slowed. But, he just turned ninety.

If you have a family history a Alzheimer''s, the best thing to do is to keep stimulating your brain. Don''t let your life fall into a rut where all you do is work, eat, sleep and die. Challenge your brain to think and participate in social activities that are challenging. Take care of your body also. That is what is currently the best way to delay the onset. The longer you can put it off, the better the odds are for you to live until a cure is found.

One clarification: Alzheimer''s Disease doesn''t kill you. It the complications that set in as you become less and less able to get exercise and take care of yourself. The most common cause of death is pneumonia.

[facts6]

Probably a vector of influences that crash the body. I remember when fluoride was put in our water: my thyroid crashed but we didn''t know why. Also, in the 50''s there was a rage for aluminum cookware and aluminum in deoderant. Will be interesting when we find out the cause.

[gjraf]

Alzheimer''s is a tragic disease. There is a new book that has been of great help. It is titled "Communicating for Care" ''How to form a successful team with the Alzheimer''s patient,caregiver and doctor'' by Gordon Rafool,MD. It can be purchased at www.**********.

[godofredo29]

Judging from the media''s misreporting of the prognosis for pancreatic cancer (which is invariably fatal), I would look at this article and the various postings in reponse to it with suspicion.

If I''m diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer''s, I''m not sticking around.

[zootallures2]

More and more victims of this incurable disease will be shockingly young.

"US Americans don''t read maps and such because many US Americans don''t have maps, and such as Iraq and South Africa US must improve their education as such they can read maps and such as"

[joyous88]

Come on! We all know whats going on.

After reading the republican talking points for the day ,these poor people went crazy.