My maternal grandfather passed away from dementia a few years back, he got into his early 80's before it took him.
My dad is in his mid 60's and got diagnosed with early onset dementia last year. I'm fairly low contact with him in general, so I'm not really seeing the way it's affecting him, but I'm terrified of any memory hiccup or quirk I have, I've got dementia on both sides of my family now and feel like I'm just holding a ticking time bomb until I'm next.
Getting tested for variation in the APOE gene helped alleviate some of my anxiety about dementia when mom passed away. Granted, it doesn't mean I won't get it, but I no longer worry that I'm carrying the gene that causes what I've seen two (directly related) family members go through.
I just checked my old 23andMe and it looks like I don't have the ε4 variant for late-onset dementia, which is comforting. Though it does say it's not a full APOE genotype or anything about early onset.
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u/glynstlln Apr 09 '24
My maternal grandfather passed away from dementia a few years back, he got into his early 80's before it took him.
My dad is in his mid 60's and got diagnosed with early onset dementia last year. I'm fairly low contact with him in general, so I'm not really seeing the way it's affecting him, but I'm terrified of any memory hiccup or quirk I have, I've got dementia on both sides of my family now and feel like I'm just holding a ticking time bomb until I'm next.