[Nathan]

Is someone you love touched by Alzheimers? How has it affected their life and your life?

[oweirdo]

My Grandma had it, she never remember me. She rarely remembered my mom, but there were 2 things she brighten up to. Singing, she loved to listen to us sing. And she loved to have the Bible read to her. That how we spent our days at the nursing home, singing and reading. She passed away in 1995, age 84.

[Mim23]

My grandmother had it. It was hard to watch her slowly lose her mind, and all her sense of self. After about six years, she passed away on July 4th. At the funeral everyone referred to it as her day of obtaining freedom. I have a great aunt on the other side who also died of it, so it is really in my genes. My husband has it in his family as well. I really hope that they find something to fight it soon. They are already making great strides.

[JeanLynn81]

My great-grandmother was like a second mom to me. She watched me all the time while my mom (a single parent) was at work. I can't even put into words how awful it was watching her go through this. I wouldn't want to anyways, because why make anyone relive this that has gone through it. If anyone does want to talk about it though, feel free to pm me.

[angelic_ky]

my DH grandfather had it... he passed away well before DH and I met

[BS65]

My mom has Alzheimer's and is going on her 7th or 8th year of having it. She was "officially" diagnosed in September of 2001 but she showed signs a couple years prior to her official diagnosis. She was only 67 when she was diagnosed. She was married to my step dad at the time and he was helping her get through the slow changes that were happening by helping her compensate for what she was beginning to have trouble with. But on June 16, 2001, a couple months before her official diagnosis, he suddenly died of a heart attack.
Because my mom was very dependent on him she was lost. She was not only dependent on him when she got ill but throughout their entire marriage. So when he died she was devastated. My younger brother and I jumped into action and took charge of everything, which was very hard because not only did we have to care for our mother and her advancing illness but we had to do this while we were grieving. I remember not even showing any signs of grief until I was finally done with taking care of her immediate needs. It was very tough on both my brother and I.
My mom wanted to stay in her home as long as possible and at the time she was still able to do many things for herself. She stayed home and we went over daily to help her with her needs. About a year or so later we could see she needed more assistance so we hired in-home care and they were there all day until she went to bed. Then later as her illness progressed, the time came that she needed full time care so we hired someone to live there and be there at night. Finally this past February her disease was so advanced that we needed to move her out of her home and into an Alzheimer's care facility. Since that time she has declined drastically.
What is so hard about all this is losing my beloved mom day by day and having to watch her lose HERSELF and suffer and not have any control over what is happening to her.
I want peace for my mom and I want her to be "whole" again. This can only happen once she passes and can be in peace. I am almost numb from the slow torture of this disease so I try to block it out as much as I can. When I do see her she no longer knows me and she is barely functional anymore. She is completely gone and what is now there is a body that is just surviving.
I detest this disease and in my opinion it is far worse than cancer or any other form of illness because once you get it there is no cure and there is nothing that can put it into “remission”. Nothing will make it go away except time and ultimately death. And during that time everyone involved goes through hell and sadness and a sense of helplessness.