white female early onset dementia

Signs of early-onset Alzheimer's begin between a person's 30s and mid-60s.

Barletta, who worked as a ski instructor at a Switzerland resort, began speaking about inappropriate subjects with clients only about five months after marrying fellow ski instructor Luca Barletta. Her odd behavior was first noticed by the owner of the resort, but it quickly piqued the concern of her family. They took her home for a period of respite, after which she tried to return to work but couldn’t concentrate.

Barletta’s parents, Allan and Caroline Sharples, had difficulty persuading their daughter to go to the doctor. When she finally did, she was given the tragic news of her frontotemporal dementia diagnosis.

Now, just a year later, Barletta is living with her parents and receiving round-the-clock care from her parents and her sister, who lives next door.

Mrs Barletta's doctor said he expected her to live between five and 10 years after her diagnosis two years ago, her sister said, but she says the change has been so rapid she thinks that was ambitious.

'I can't see what the next two years will look like unless her condition plateaus,' Mrs Gilbert said. 'Becky is completely dependent on my parents and her carer.

'She needs help toileting and swallowing liquids because her swallow reflex doesn't work properly.

'We make her squash into a jelly so it triggers the reflex when she chews.

'In a way she is easier to manage now that her condition is worse because she doesn't run away, scream at people or pinch food from their plates in public.

'Becky is vacant but I hope she's content in her own little world'

'But now there's just no engagement at all. She's vacant, which is one of the hardest things to cope with – you would never know if she was happy or sad.

'I just hope she's content in her own little world.'

Mrs Barletta still goes for a couple of walks every day with her carer or her father, who is 70 years old and retired, her sister said.

And she also has a weekly singing lesson with a local woman – which has changed from Mrs Barletta taking part to mostly being sung to.

“Carla deteriorated so quickly. She no longer even lifts her head when we’re there or makes any eye contact. She can’t walk or speak and needs to be fed with soft food.

“I visit her every day and I just hope that one day she might recognise me again, but I cry every time I come out the home. She has seizures regularly which only adds to the distress.

Laura moved to Australia when she was 26. In August 2017, when she was 34, Laura was told she had inherited the APP gene and would develop early on-set Alzheimer's within the next ten years.

At just 42, she is unable to move her limbs, can only consume liquids, is unaware of what is going on around her and has not spoken for four years. She is also profoundly deaf.

She spent 18 months at the home before the Alzheimer’s Society helped her family to find her a place in an early-onset dementia unit in Ashford. She has been there since May 2005.

Her counselor recommended she undergo neurological tests, believing she could be suffering from multiple sclerosis or a brain tumor.

An MRI scan revealed she had Stage 4 dementia, which has since progressed to Stage 5.

5% to 6% of people with Alzheimer’s disease develop symptoms before the age of 65, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“You think you’d know when something was really wrong — but I didn’t realize things were bad to this extent. I was really devastated,” lamented Nelson, an Idaho Falls mom of two children and two stepchildren.

“The symptoms and tests were so scary,” she continued. “I’m a college-educated businesswoman, why couldn’t I do simple math problems and name different colors?”

“According to her neurologist, Dr. Hart Cohen, she has advanced dementia, sometimes does not know her husband, Jay, nor her date of birth,” the filing states. “She has a lot of disorientation, will ruminate about her parents who have both passed and her mother who died about 20 years ago.”