Recieved My Results From "23 and Me" Yesterday

[Pwestie1218]

Hi! My name is Pat:

I am a new member as of today. I received my results yesterday from "23 and Me", and found out that I have inherited the APOE genetic variant from both my parents. I had a pretty good idea that this would be the result.

I have a terrible family history of Alzheimers - my grandmother Dorothy was the first to display the systems. She ended up in a nursing home in a non-response state for a couple of years prior to her death. My father was next, and that devastated me. He became violent, and was removed from nursing home, after an altercation with another resident. He died soon after. Lastly, my cousin on my fathers side was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers and died at the age of 61 - so here I am.

I started reading as much as I can about the disease, and came upon dr. Bredesen's book. I started to implement his protocol, and although it is not easy, I feel it is worth the effort. I just need to get all my family including my husband on board with me. This I think will be the hard part. There is such a stigma against Alsheimers, but I have faith.

I am so glad I found your website - thanks for lettiing me share my story and I look forward to be coming part of the group.
Pat

[chrissyr]

Pat, I'm sorry to hear of your losses and the devastation that Alzheimer's brought to your loved ones. You've come to a great place with a wealth of knowledge and support. The primer under "getting started" is an amazing (and actually fun) read, written by a physician member, Stavia.

Welcome, we look forward to hearing more from you as you embark on this journey!

[Cas]

Hi Pat,

Welcome to the site and thank you for posting, so sorry to hear of the difficulties Alzheimer’s has caused your family.

I know you’ll find some great support on here and So much information and guidance. As Chrissy has said please check out the Primer as this is a really good place to start alongside Dr Breseden’s book. Keep going with it all, getting family on board can be a challenge and I know many people on here will understand that. Maybe your husband would benefit from having a look at this site too?

We look forward to hearing more from you - take care.
Catherine

[NF52]

Hi! My name is Pat:
I am a new member as of today. I received my results yesterday from "23 and Me", and found out that I have inherited the APOE genetic variant from both my parents. I had a pretty good idea that this would be the result...
I just need to get all my family including my husband on board with me. This I think will be the hard part. There is such a stigma against Alsheimers, but I have faith.

I am so glad I found your website - thanks for lettiing me share my story and I look forward to be coming part of the group.
Pat

Hi Pat,

Like you, I inherited one copy of ApoE 4 from each parent. I'm sure that your parents and mine would be saying now, if they could, "Oh honey, I'm so sorry!" You dad especially must have been confused, anxious, probably not sleeping well in the nursing home, which would have worsened his cognition. As you've seen from the histories of your grandmother, father and cousin, dementia is not a unitary disease. It's entirely possible in fact, that your cousin, who had early onset dementia, had some other significant risk factor that contributed to the early onset. ApoE 4 is considered a risk factor for LOAD (Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease), yet even with a 4/4 profile, a recent meta-analysis concluded that it was reasonable to tell potential participants ages 60-75 in a clinical trial that they had a statistical (not personalized) risk profile of 30%-60% likelihood of either mild cognitive impairment or dementia by the age of 85, which they used as the cut-off for a "lifetime risk".
I am 66 and still cognitively healthy, and also in good cardiac health, although my dad died at 67 after quadruple bypass and the cardiac arrest. So you are neither your father, your cousin, or your grandmother. You don't mention your mother's family and while you inherited one Apoe 4 allele from her, it's possible that you also inherited some protective genes that are holding some of the troublemakers in check.
No matter how old you are, you also have the ability to think about what makes sense for you to prioritize as a lifestyle intervention. Stavia's PRIMER made me feel that I could start slow on sleep and exercise and a few blood tests at age 62. I'm glad I did. You will find lots of support from members (and the health coach interns) for your efforts to win over your husband. It took a while for my husband to just get comfortable hearing me talk about dementia and my risk. Husbands often like to think their wives are able to handle anything and don't like to talk about difficult topics--but they come around!

And here's my final thought: You don't have to do anything more to become part of this group: You are a part of our community now.

Hugs from your 4/4 "sister".

[Anna]

Welcome to the forum Pat. Although you had a pretty good idea that you inherited risk from both sides, I'm sure it was difficult, at best, to see this result. One cruel aspect of this result is that many of us with two copies of ApoE have seen first hand exactly why we don't want this to be our fate. The good news is you have knowledge about prevention that your parents and other family members were not able to benefit from, which will likely have a huge impact on your cognitive (and cardiovascular) health. You have come to the right place, and it looks like you are off to a terrific start.

I just need to get all my family including my husband on board with me. This I think will be the hard part.

This has definitely been one of my challenges, even still, well over a year later. I just know that I have to do what I have to do, no matter what support I am getting.

[jordansmom]

Pwestie1218, I also received the news about my apoE status via 23andMe. I was flattened by the news, so my heart goes out to you. The good thing is that we are learning about the risk in time to do something about it, and there ARE a lot of things we can do to mitigate AD risk. So, hang in there, and don't give up!