A recent policy change to the Social Security Administration (SSA) will greatly benefit individuals living with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, marked by symptoms and diagnosis of the disease before the age of sixty-five.
This month, SSA added the diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease to its list of eligible diseases in its Compassionate Allowances Initiative. The addition of the early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis enables individuals with the disease to become eligible for SSDI, Social Security Disability Income and receive payments more quickly. Before the addition of the diagnosis, individuals were often denied benefits and endured a long appeal process.

Family members who are dealing with early-onset dementia often face major issues that are not associated with diagnosis at a later age, such as a loss of job due to declining cognitive abilities. For some individuals living with the early-onset type of this disease, SSDI is their main source of income. This change to the SSA will ease the application process for eligible individuals, diagnosed with the early onset form of Alzheimer’s disease and unable to continue with their work.

Whenever I do a family or professional training , I ask the audience members to consider what remains when someone is living with Alzheimer’s disease, as compared to the many losses the individual is experiencing.

This past week I spent some time with residents in the Compass Memory Support at the BayView Assisted Living, a community owned by Senior Living Residences. One of the residents had some difficulty walking into the dining room at lunchtime. The associates quickly offered her assistance and she rested in a chair for a few minutes before continuing in to have her meal.

Another resident, who had watched the scene closely, approached the staff and offered his services. Once he was assured that everything was fine, he went in to have his own lunch.

I spoke to Jennifer Hoadley, the Program Director, about the resident who had approached to offer help, commenting on his composure, true concern, and fast action. She said, “he is a former Boston firefighter and is always right there when anyone needs assistance.” Although he is now living with Alzheimer’s disease, his lifelong call to the service and safety of others remains, unchanged by his disease.

Science Daily, recently reported on new findings regarding neuroimaging and an increased ability to ‘see’ Alzheimer’s disease at its earliest stage. As you’ve read here before, earlier diagnosis will ultimately to improved treatment, possibly slowing the progression of the disease.

Researches at UCLA followed 169 study participants diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), the stage between the cognitive decline associated with normal aging and the more serious changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Over a three year period, they took pictures of the brains of the individuals in the study, using sophisticated imaging and noting subtle changes over time.

After three years, the researches observed that the individuals who converted from MCI to Alzheimer’s disease showed changes in the hippocampus of the brain, specifically a 10-30 percent atrophy. The early changes noted in the brain imaging appeared before participants reported any decrease in functional ability related to Alzheimer’s disease.

Lianna Apostolova, senior author, of the study’s related paper and a member of the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging stated, ““We feel this is an important finding because it is in living humans.” She went on to say, “Now we have a sensitive technique that shows the ‘invisible’ – this is, the progression of a disease before symptoms appear.”