Expert: Mary Gordon - 7/23/2009

Question
My mother is 49 years old and I'm starting to see signs of Alzheimer's. She has a family history of people who have had it and I was wondering if 49 may be to young to get this type of disease. could it be possible?

Answer
Hi Amber, as you know, the brain is a very delicate thing, and there are all kinds of physical and emotional conditions that can affect how well it works.

In a person who is 49 years old, the first step would be to see a doctor for a full physical and assorted blood tests to screen out some obvious problems - such as hormonal imbalances, dietary deficiencies, stress or depression, drug side affects or interactions, thyroid disease (very common and often undiagnosed), diabetes, kidney problems, and all kinds of other things. It is very unlikely she has a progressive dementia like Alzheimer's.

There IS a type of Alzheimer's that is early on-set (i.e. can hit people as young as in their 30's), but it is fairly rare. It is strongly genetic - it's 50/50 inheritable. If this was in your family, you would know about it - you would have a history of many relatives deteriorating mentally and physically in middle age, rather than at ages beyond 65. You would see a pattern of people having been institutionalized and dying very young (other relatives might say they went crazy and had to be put away).

Even people with NO family history of Alzheimer's have about a 50% chance of developing some form of dementia in their lifetime, if they are lucky enough to live to be 85. The odds of some sort of neurological impairment involving the brain increase with age.

However, your mom really is too young for this to be likely. She needs to see a doctor about this and find out exactly what is going on. See if you can convince her. You will never forgive yourself if you find out later she had some illness that might have been easily diagnosed and treated, had she only sought help early on. If a person's mind is affected, and it is something serious, quick action can sometimes prevent permanent damage.

Hope this helps. 49 is pretty young!

Mary G.