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[Please
note that the material on this page was current when it
was first posted. Please see the Alzheimer's Disease Fact Sheet for up-to-date figures.]
[From
our January 1998 Alzheimer Awareness Campaign]
Could
It Be Alzheimer's Disease?
The
letter came as a shock.
June,
1995. Twenty-five years with the same company. Eight years
to go before retirement. And they were saying, Sorry
we have to let you go. There are just too many problems
affecting your work. Perhaps you should see a doctor. You
might have a medical problem.
What
Mike Crowe and his wife, Nona, of Penticton, B.C. didn't
realize was that Mike was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
"We
thought it was just stress, burnout"
He
wasn't remembering deadlines and appointments at work. He
was also making a lot of mistakes. At home, he was totally
exhausted. He would just tune out, read the newspaper, watch
television and not talk very much.
Nona
says, "We thought it was just stress, burnout."
But
Mike was actually showing signs of memory loss, difficulty
performing tasks, mood changes and a loss of initiative
-- nearly half the symptoms listed in Is
it Alzheimer Disease? 10 Warning Signs, a new publication
from the Alzheimer Society of Canada.
The
Warning Signs help families during the difficult time before
diagnosis
The
list helps families recognize the kinds of personality,
behaviour and cognitive changes that could signal Alzheimer's disease. "Families told us that the period before the
diagnosis was extremely difficult; they needed to know what
the warning signs were and what they should do about them,"
says Linda LeDuc, the Alzheimer Society of Canada's Director
of Support Services and Education. "The Warning Signs
brochure provides families with information to help them
get through the very difficult period between noticing the
symptoms and getting the diagnosis."
Yvonne
Schwartz of Bayside, N.S. could have used this five years
ago.
In
a split second, her husband, Laurie, would switch from being
violently angry to calm and even-tempered. Yvonne found
this behaviour very unsettling.
Laurie
began to avoid doing anything that required much thought.
And his driving became erratic; he often didn't know where
he was going.
"I
was terrified the last couple of years that he drove,"
says Yvonne.
She
had no idea that Laurie's personality change, mood swings,
problems with abstract thinking and disorientation were
warning signs of Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia. It affects more
than ¼ million Canadians, yet many people don't recognize
the warning signs and if they do, they don't know what to
do about it.
Family
members often think the person is depressed or showing normal
signs of aging. But Alzheimer's disease is much more than
that.
"It
reaches into people's lives to affect their reasoning, memory,
concentration and use of language," says Dr. Mary Gorman,
a family doctor in Antigonish, N.S.
"It
affects people's ability to interpret the world in space
and in thought."
Dr.
Gorman is a consultant to the geriatric assessment and rehabilitation
unit of St. Martha's Regional Hospital, Antigonish, N.S.
Over the past three years, she has noticed a change. "Doctors
are becoming more familiar with the signs of dementia,"
says Dr. Gorman, "so they're sending patients earlier
for assessment."
An
early diagnosis helps families plan for the future
To
help families with the assessment, the Alzheimer Society
has also produced a new brochure titled Getting
A Diagnosis: Finding Out If It Is Alzheimer Disease.
This brochure prepares families for the doctor appointment:
what to expect, questions to ask, and information to bring
along.
A
diagnosis can be made in a family doctor's office, a memory
clinic, a hospital or in the community.
The
assessment can include some or all of the following: a detailed
medical history, physical exam, mental status exam, lab
tests, psychiatric and psychological evaluations, brain
scans.
This
testing helps determine whether the dementia symptoms are
being caused by an illness that may be treatable such as
depression, thyroid disease, heart disease, infection or
by Alzheimer's disease.
"Where
the dementia is caused by a reversible condition, the earlier
you detect it, the more chance you have of reversing it,"
says Dr. Howard Bergman, a geriatrician and Director of
Montreal's Jewish General Hospital/McGill University Memory
Clinic. Dr. Bergman is one of a group of dementia experts
developing guidelines to help family physicians recognize,
assess and manage Alzheimer's disease.
"The
family physician is the key person in all of this because
the patient or family members are going to approach him
or her first with their concerns," says Dr. Michael
Cooper, a geriatric psychiatrist who performs memory loss
assessment at the Penticton Regional Hospital in British
Columbia. "If an early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease
can be obtained, it allows families to start planning for
the future--discussing financial arrangements, living arrangements,
making sure that they have the necessary support services."
This support includes current information on the disease,
help from the Alzheimer Society, and the consideration of
treatment options.
The
first Alzheimer medication to treat symptoms of the disease
is already on the Canadian market. Other drugs are in various
stages of testing and may soon be available. "If Alzheimer
medication can lead to a better quality of life," says
Dr. Cooper, "then doctors will want to discuss it with
patients and their families at an early stage."
Once
a person has been diagnosed, it is important to involve
the family. Dr. Gorman and her team sometimes find it necessary
to hold a family conference.
"We
may bring in a social worker, physiotherapist, occupational
therapist and nurse. We meet the family and explain what
dementia means, where the person is in terms of that diagnosis
and why we think it's Alzheimer's disease and not something
else. It helps relieve the tremendous anxiety about the
diagnosis and what to do about providing care."
Families
also learn about the wealth of services the Alzheimer Society
provides. Services like support groups for people with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers, individual counselling, information
resources and community referrals.
"Going
to the Alzheimer support group certainly made it easier
for me."
Yvonne
and Laurie Schwartz have made use of their local Alzheimer
Society. For ten months after Laurie's diagnosis, they tried
to keep it hidden from their friends. Yvonne says, "It
was the most difficult time you could imagine. Laurie didn't
want people to know. He didn't want them staring at him."
They eventually joined an Alzheimer support group for people
in the early stages of the disease.
At
first, Yvonne would cry in support group meetings but after
a while she found it easier to open up and talk.
After
about the third meeting, she says, "Laurie came home
one day. He went across the street to his cousin Sidney
and told Sid his problem. I said, ‘oh, that's so good.
Now can I tell my sisters?'"
In
January 1997, Mike and Nona Crowe got the news that Mike
had a probable diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. They know
how valuable it is to receive the diagnosis in the early
stages of the disease.
Nona
learned that her local Alzheimer Society was starting a
support group for people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease.
Mike joined and now he's learning more about his illness
and the changes to expect. "Going to the Alzheimer
group certainly made it easier for me," says Mike.
Nona
meets with other caregivers. She says, "At the beginning
we were in denial. It can't be. It's got to be something
else. But when you come to terms with it, it's a bit of
a relief having the diagnosis, accepting it and saying,
let's make the best of it and try to enjoy life as much
as we can."
By
the year 2030, ¾ million Canadians are expected to have
Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Linda
LeDuc says, "Early detection and early diagnosis will
give some people with Alzheimer's disease a chance to participate
in the decisions affecting their future."
The
Alzheimer Society provides information and support to families
affected by Alzheimer's disease. The Society also funds research
into the cause and cure of Alzheimer's disease and into finding
improved methods of caregiving and delivering services.
For more information, contact your local
Alzheimer Society.
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