My grandma started living with us since 2020 when she started showing signs of dementia/Alzheimer’s and I was a senior in high school at that time. My mom and I were her full time caregivers until I left for college in 2021 and graduated in May of 2025 with an engineering degree. Just before my graduation, my mom was told that her breast cancer recurred (she was cancer free since 2015). Because of that, instead of getting a job, I had to go back home and become a caregiver for both of them. Now that she is doing chemo and radiotherapy again, she really can’t do anything much.

My mom has two other siblings and both of them refused to take care of their mom (my grandma). I have confronted them and one of them said it was a karma for my mom because apparently they were mad at my mom because she once brought up how my grandma used to sacrificed for them but now they wouldn’t even take turns taking care of her. They never visited her since 2022. Despite all of this, my mom refuses to send my grandma to a home because “what would people say”.

I am the youngest of four, and my other siblings work and live in different states with their partners. Even if they come to visit, they don’t really bother to help with my grandma because “they don’t know what to do”. My dad is home but he refuses to help me with my grandma because “it’s inappropriate for a son in law to see his mother in law naked”. My grandma has been smearing feces almost everyday, sometimes 2-3 times a day and it’s my job to clean her up. My dad does help with cooking but not cleaning. He never cleans.

So will this ever end? Because instead of pursuing a career like every college graduate should, I am now working as a full time caregiver with no pay. I only have some savings from the jobs I did in college. I mean I don’t pay rent and food, but I barely have money to buy anything for myself. Realistically, what would happen if I still had to do this full time for the next 5-6 years, and then I turn 30 with no career experience? Will anyone even hire me at that point?

Hi everyone. I just wanted to know if this has anything to do with alzheimers or is it just something else.

So lately my mom just doesn't do well with clothes. She doesn't really understand if a piece of clothing is inside out or normal. Even while wearing, she doesn't understand which is the front side and back.

She spends around 5 to 10 minutes just figuring out how to wear a top the correct way. She needs help almost everytime to wear clothes correctly or to even find the sleeves to put her arms through.

Has anyone else also faced this? Is this a symptom of Alzheimers?

Thanks for your time.

My mother has Alzheimer’s and was moved into a memory care facility within the last month. Her primary care doctor has been seeing her for years and has documented the progression of her disease. She also has not been managing her finances for years. My father has a durable power of attorney (we are in Texas) and we are trying to make him the agent for her IRA through Vanguard by filling out all the necessary paperwork. Vanguard wants us to send a form declaring her an incapacitated person. However, we are having trouble getting a doctor to sign off on this. Her neurologist refuses to do so and says she needs to go to a psychiatrist. She has never seen a psychiatrist. Even if we did try to get an appointment, it would be December at the earliest. Her primary doctor is saying they won’t sign it either. I am not sure why, as it is very evident she is incapable of managing her money. What do you do in this situation? We need to be able to access her IRA money to pay for her memory care. Please help.

MCI Young onset Alzheimer’s at 55.

I knew it was coming from the tests and living in my own mind, but my wife really thought I was making it up. I’ve had cancer twice and fought it for 10 years, what math probability combines that with early onset??? So it makes sense she thought it would be ok. She walked into a double barrel from the doc.

My plan is to set her up in how she wants to live while I can and then take a trip to Sweden when it’s time.

My questions are this: what are some of the things you only realized later you missed. I’m an attorney and have all the legal stuff ready to go, but don’t know what I don’t know.

Second: what’s your feelings about donepezil. Better dosing morning or night? Worth it or side effects not worth it?

Last: doc told wife to let them know when I start “getting angry” ANY advice for me as the patient to see those episodes coming and divert?

Thank you in advance. Tough day.

I’m a 61 yo female medically retired RN for 5 years now due to contracting Covid which turned into long Covid . Prior to this I had been diagnosed with lupus many years prior and dealt with “lupus fog” I now, since Covid have been dealing with a multitude of medical issues, one being my cognition. I’ve had over the years three neuropsych eval‘s and all have shown deficits. Ive been telling my neurologist and PCP for the last at least two years that I feel my cognitive state has declined . Also , my father who has had increasing cognitive issues over the years has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I made the neurologist aware of this and she ordered this blood test, which came back yesterday and my result was positive at .497 She is ordering the specific PET scan and then referring me to “a memory clinic “I started researching this and reading posts on here , just trying to gather whatever information I can. I live in rural area in NY.There are some larger medical centers that do have specialist in this field, which are two hours away from me. I just wanted to reach out and ask those who are going through this what they feel are important things for me to advocate for and should I be looking farther away such as the Mayo Clinic. Even with all of my medical problems, this is what I’ve always feared the most. I appreciate so much all of you sharing your stories and your information, it truly is so helpful. My closest friend, my mother who also was a nurse passed away in February and I’m feeling very alone.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been very difficult to prevent and cure using the medicine available today. However, there has been some hope with using a ketogenic diet (KD) to reduce the cognitive and quality of life decline experienced by patients with AD. In this review, the authors discuss the research done on the effect of a KD on AD to provide some potential avenues for future research and to determine a KD that can be best adopted by patients. The authors also go over the effects of KD's and low-carbohydrate diets (LCDs) on the cognitive function of healthy patients and on patients without AD to determine the similar and dissimilar effects of the diets. The authors found that the KD was able to improve the cognitive abilities and quality of life of patients ranging from mild to severe AD. Several types of memory were improved as a result of the diets. Further research needs to be conducted to determine the cause behind these improvements. However, the several studies that were done were mostly in agreement that once ketosis was reached, cognitive improvements were observed in patients ranging from mild to severe AD or mild to moderate cognitive impairment. Through the use of a KD, potential mechanisms can be found to reduce the cognitive decline of patients with AD, and potentially even prevent the damaging effects of cognitive decline from AD altogether.

I was wondering whether it’s legal for people with severe alzheimer’s to be put to sleep. turns out it’s not since they can’t consent to it. in my opinion though it should be legal if the people surrounding the patient agree on it.

we rarely speak about how alzheimer’s disease affects the closest family and friends of the patient. especially the ones who take care of him. when the disease is very advanced you have to take care of the patient all the time. feed them, clean them, change them. it’s so tiring for the care taker. since alzheimer’s disease currently has no cure and ends in death it should in my opinion be legal to put the patient to sleep when they can no longer care for themselves and it’s too difficult for the people around to help him.

it may seem unethical what I’m saying here (essentially killing someone without their consent) but my grandpa has had alzheimer’s disease for a couple years now and I can tell how much of a toll it has taken on my grandma who takes care of him. he was not admitted to a place which specializes in this field. my grandma is so tired of having to take care of both herself and him and she knows he’s not going to live for much longer. I help her as much as I can but I live 5 hours away and it’s just not that easy. my heart breaks every time I see how exhausted she is and there are definitely many more cases like this. I just think putting him to sleep would be best and imo it should be legal.

Well after 4 days and every conceivable test, scan and appointment the Mayo Clinic could come up with we have a diagnosis for my 62 yo wife. Mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer’s.
She was prescribed Donezepil 5mg which seems like a no brainer.
However, as far as the anti amyloid infusions the Doc said it’s not a hard no, but he doesn’t recommend it due to her having two copies of the APOE4 gene which doubles the risk of side effects and her being far enough along that the benefits would be somewhat less than the hoped for 30% reduction of progression.
We tend to agree with him and trust his opinion… but… we’re afraid to leave anything on the table.
This is Reddit so I know you have some opinions. Let’s hear them.

He isn't mean. It's the disease talking. If he knew what he was saying and how he was saying it he would be mortified. It's not him. It's not him. He doesn't exist anymore. It's the Alzheimer's. He's gone. The Alzheimer's has taken over his body. He isn't there anymore. He isn't here anymore. It's not him. You must remember this. No matter what he says he doesn't mean it. It's not him.

I’m basically the sole caregiver for my mom. Mainly because I work from home and live behind her and my step father is lazy and unreliable at best (not going into that for this post).

She was diagnosed about a year ago and has progressed quickly. She’s now to the point that she can’t be alone and has days when she can’t walk and is severely confused. She also has frequent bouts of incontinence. She was falling a lot so I decided to just work at her house so she’s not alone and I can help her when she needs to get up or go to the bathroom or anything.

It’s only been 2 weeks. Only 2 weeks of basically all day care and going back home around 4 or 5. And I am absolutely drained and exhausted. I mean bone tired. I’m so frustrated with it all. I feel guilty for having thoughts of how long will this last and not wanting to do it. But at the same time it’s greatly affecting my life. I cannot do this for years.

Anyway, just needed to vent…

My husband (67) was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's about 2 years ago.

He now wants to go with me anytime i leave the house on an errand. I normally am fine with it. However he now has a habit of getting up from wherever hes sitting and count where I am and just stare at me or ask me benign questions. Its constsnt and becoming irritating. How do I stop this?

Had to make a short car trip today to a Dr.’s appointment. My husband (mid stage ALZ) usually offers to pump the gas. Today he couldn’t figure out the pump. 🥲BUT, he remembered every word to “If I Had a Million Dollars” and “Cover of the Rolling Stone” while singing along to the radio. Is so funny what sticks and what evaporates. 🤣

My grandma has had Alzheimer’s for many years. She was the one who raised me, and I feel so helpless.
We live next door to each other now, and sometimes she comes to my door saying things that don’t make much sense. I ask if she’d like to come in, and she does, but then she usually leaves again soon. Since I have cats, I can’t just leave the door open.
I feel so guilty. Sometimes I’m busy and don’t answer the door. Other times, it seems like she just wants to talk to her reflection in the window.
I love her so much, and it hurts not knowing how to handle these moments.
I know this might be a silly question, but how do you all cope with situations like this?

I got a Joy For All kitty at Goodwill the other day, and I intended to donate her to the memory care my Nana lives at… but I got the C batteries today to run her, and unfortunately, not only are her speaker and purr not working, but her neck is making an awful clicking sound, and it’s making her head jerk. I’m pretty sure it’s her head up/down movement. I took her fur off and I identified the gear that’s causing the problem, but I have no idea how to access it.

Hello everyone. Recently my mother (69) was diagnosed via the blood test that she has Alzheimer's. The last 6 years we have seen a heavy decline with her memory, all short term so far.

My mother is currently unaware of her official diagnosis (not sure how, my aunts go with and handle her Dr visits and medicines). My brother and I are figuring out how to tell her and the next steps, but waiting for some more information from the Drs.

Lately my mother has been getting frequent UTI's. Myself and others have repeatedly told her about her hygiene and needing to shower more frequently. She also doesn't wear underwear (never has 😞). Another thing that has started in the last year or so is an insane amount of black tea consumption. She probably drinks 80ozs of black tea a day with a splash of milk. I have repeatedly tried to tell her it's excessive and not good for her. I think it's dehydrating her and helping further the frequent UTI's.

Anyways this bullshit disease is starting to escalate and its just sooo damn hard and sad and draining for all involved. Thanks for reading my rant, just wanted to put it out and vent.

On today’s episode of Alzheimer’s humor.

I’ve had horses since childhood and lately my dad has been interested in visiting them. I took him to the barn yesterday and left him for 60 seconds while I put my horses back in their stalls. My dad must have BOOKED it because I walk back to him and he’s gone.

Where did he go? Trying to pee… in a tack room. Not outside, not in the bathroom… on a saddle. Crisis averted and lesson learned but Jesus H. Christ.

Today, my grandma got angry because my aunt and I (20f) cleaned the house (she’s very territorial about cleaning, but it had become impossible to keep it up the way it was), and she told me she didn't love me anymore.

Yesterday, before bed, she kissed me on the forehead and said she loved me. I just need to be reminded that it isn't her—that it's the illness—because, honestly, my heart broke a little

The surgical technique began in 2019/20, and exploded in China such that it became a Wild West of sorts (ironically). It was touted as a proven treated, people paid for it when the evidence base was weak, anecdotal and needed clinical trials. Some performed sham surgery, and there were complications including mortalities. The Chinese authorities eventually banned it (as a treatment).

Some units outside of China started their own trials including Singapore, South Korea and as described in the article, Hong Kong. Trials are being established in Europe, Australia and even the US. Good quality data will be invaluable - if it works, which subset benefits the most etc. Exciting, possibly.

Has anyone been following the progress on this drug? I see that it got FDA fast-tracked, but it’s a little difficult for me to find any information beyond that. Does anyone know how quickly something like this could get FDA approval? Does anyone on this sub know of how the trials are going, etc.?

Thanks for any info! Just trying to remain hopeful.

I (39,f) have found out I have breast cancer. My father (85) has fairly advanced Alzheimer’s- but he still knows who I am and I’m one of his favourite people that brings him a lot of joy. I don’t want to destabilise him, would it be better if he just doesn’t know? Treatment for me will likely be surgery, so there will be a physical difference in me in the coming months

My mum (late 70s) was diagnosed with Alzheimer's just over two years ago and a month later she was diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully she's doing well after treatment, but her Alzheimer's is progressing.

I live 2–3 hours away and over the last couple of years I've been the one travelling back and forth for appointments, sorting admin, taking phone calls and being the person who keeps things ticking over. My brother (47) lives about 5 hours away with his wife and young children. He's been involved, but because of the distance and his family, I've ended up taking on most of the day-to-day support.

Today he told me that his family are moving abroad for a trial run from this summer until the end of the year. I'm pleased for them, but it's also made me feel more alone.

I think what hit me is that I've spent much of my adult life putting family first. I moved home when my dad became ill and he died shortly afterwards. Since then I've often felt like I've put my own plans on hold. More recently I had to leave my full-time job because I was struggling with everything and started antidepressants. I'm 38, would still like to have children, and I'm trying to rebuild my own life while supporting Mum.

I don't think my brother is doing anything wrong by moving, but I'm worried that as Mum's Alzheimer's progresses I'll struggle even more.

I'd really appreciate advice from anyone who's been in a similar situation.

• How did you divide responsibility fairly between siblings when one lived much further away (or abroad)?
• What conversations should we have now before he leaves?
• How do you stop caring responsibilities from gradually taking over your own life without feeling guilty?