Expert: Mary Daikos - 11/10/2007

Question
My mom who is only 63, has late stage althzeimers/dimentia.  she is currently in a skilled psychiatric hospital.  She's at a stage where she doesn't even recognize any family members including her own husband of 45 years.  They have lived in the same house for more than 2 decades.  This house always smells like mold, and is damp and moldy.  I'm convinced that her early onset of dimentia and altheimers is caused by her exposure to this mold.  Is there any scientific data to support this?  Is it possible for mold to cause early althzeimers?  I'm devastated that she is affected so young. Please help me with some links, or information on mold and althzeimers.

Answer
Hi John,
I'm so sorry for what your family is going through.  Alzheimer's disease is no picnic, but early onset is often the worse, especially for the family ...

I've been doing this professionally for more than a decade and, in that time, there have been a multitude of studies linking almost everything to Alzheimer's but, to be honest, I've never heard of or seen a study linking exposure of mold to dementia.  I'm sorry ...

I can say that early onset Alzheimer's (which your mother has) has a tendency to run in the family, so you may want to look into whether or not there is any history there.  Unfortunately, sometimes people with no history live their lives doing all the "right" things, and still are hit by diseases like Alzheimer's which are completely out of their control.

I'm so sorry for what you are going through ... if I can be of any further help, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Mary