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My grandmom probably had Alzheimer's because she would always forget what my name was (she'd think she is talking to my little brother) or she would ask the sam

My grandmom probably had Alzheimer's because she would always forget what my name was (she'd think she is talking to my little brother) or she would ask the same questions every 5/10 minutes. I can see slight similarities with my dad now. He might repeat the same question within 5 minutes-- this happens when he's really tired. I remember there was a discussion here about preventative drugs? Anyone one had experience with them?

anjc 11y ago
I could be totally wrong but, I'm pretty sure that that's just a normal aspect of aging. Every single person I know has experienced some level of cognitive decline with age. The name thing is especially common, I find. So I wouldn't go around thinking you have Alzheimers in your family unless you have more reason to think it.
- feintruled 11y ago
  A function of age and number of children, perhaps. My mother sometimes manages to cycle through all my siblings' names before she gets to me. One time she even threw in the dog's name.. a sad reflection on my position in the family pecking order, perhaps!
  - anjc 11y ago
    Agh same here. First my mother's mother did it when I was a child, then my own mother, and now I'm at it. I've often wondered if there's a learned-behaviour aspect to it, because I've been anticipating it happening to me since I noticed my mother doing it.
dspillett 11y ago
> He might repeat the same question within 5 minutes-- this happens when he's really tired. This could be perfectly normal age related deterioration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_and_aging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_and_aging There are things you can do to reduce the effect, but it will affect most of us to a certain extent eventually if we live long enough. Heck, I show such symptoms when tired at 37, have done for years, and suspect everyone does too. Also, my late grandmother had problems with names (she'd sometimes run through a couple before getting the right one, even flipping genders part way through the list) but otherwise seemed to have a fairly complete and pretty well polished set of marbles until the end. Of course if you have any concern you should broach the subject of consulting a relevant doctor. It might be nothing (well, nothing unusual) but it is worth being slightly paranoid with such matters in case it is something significant for which there are treatments to delay, mitigate, or possibly block, more serious ramifications. One key seems to be remaining active, both mentally and physically. Staying mentally active is a no brainer here (sorry...), and recent studies seem to indicate that the old wisdom of staying active prolongs not just physical fitness but mental awareness and other abilities too (https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28001-why-choosing-the-right-workout-could-fine-tune-your-brain/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28001-why-choosing-th...).
skimpycompiler 11y ago
My wife's grandmother has a traffic accident induced Alzheimer, she showed signs, after taking medication, she was slowly going back to normal, after a couple of months the deterioration of memory started again and now the normal dosages do not help anymore.

anjc 11y ago

I could be totally wrong but, I'm pretty sure that that's just a normal aspect of aging. Every single person I know has experienced some level of cognitive decline with age. The name thing is especially common, I find. So I wouldn't go around thinking you have Alzheimers in your family unless you have more reason to think it.

feintruled 11y ago
A function of age and number of children, perhaps. My mother sometimes manages to cycle through all my siblings' names before she gets to me. One time she even threw in the dog's name.. a sad reflection on my position in the family pecking order, perhaps!
- anjc 11y ago
  Agh same here. First my mother's mother did it when I was a child, then my own mother, and now I'm at it. I've often wondered if there's a learned-behaviour aspect to it, because I've been anticipating it happening to me since I noticed my mother doing it.

dspillett 11y ago

> He might repeat the same question within 5 minutes-- this happens when he's really tired. This could be perfectly normal age related deterioration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_and_aging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_and_aging There are things you can do to reduce the effect, but it will affect most of us to a certain extent eventually if we live long enough. Heck, I show such symptoms when tired at 37, have done for years, and suspect everyone does too. Also, my late grandmother had problems with names (she'd sometimes run through a couple before getting the right one, even flipping genders part way through the list) but otherwise seemed to have a fairly complete and pretty well polished set of marbles until the end. Of course if you have any concern you should broach the subject of consulting a relevant doctor. It might be nothing (well, nothing unusual) but it is worth being slightly paranoid with such matters in case it is something significant for which there are treatments to delay, mitigate, or possibly block, more serious ramifications. One key seems to be remaining active, both mentally and physically. Staying mentally active is a no brainer here (sorry...), and recent studies seem to indicate that the old wisdom of staying active prolongs not just physical fitness but mental awareness and other abilities too (https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28001-why-choosing-the-right-workout-could-fine-tune-your-brain/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28001-why-choosing-th...).

skimpycompiler 11y ago

My wife's grandmother has a traffic accident induced Alzheimer, she showed signs, after taking medication, she was slowly going back to normal, after a couple of months the deterioration of memory started again and now the normal dosages do not help anymore.