Keeping Busy to Ward Off Alzheimer's Disease
Jim Cook, 57, of Lincoln, Neb., had a 28-year Air Force career and then worked as a guest lecturer for the University of Nebraska. But little by little, important memories that he needed to do his job started to elude him. "My personal stigmatization was not being able to remember people's names. Fifteen minutes into the conversation, I would forget someone's name," he says. "I was less able to manage the small details that were so fundamentally crucial to my being able to do the work."
Cook's job performance reviews began to steadily decline. Eventually, "I was kind of forced into retirement three years ago," Cook says. "At the time, I thought it was just a matter of office politics. A lot of us lose our jobs." But then came the medical diagnosis: Alzheimer's disease.
The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 10 million American baby boomers will develop the disease, and more than 70 percent of these people will live at home and be cared for by family and friends. Cook and his wife, Gwendolyn, are both supported by her salary until he becomes eligible for his military pension at age 60. Now he keeps busy as an actor, writer, and arts educator in order to slow the progression of the disease. "Being very active and having a lot of activities is a cause of my high functionality, but I have a significant decline in my brain that would say otherwise," Cook says. "My family, my wife especially, they know the difference."
This blog post is part of an ongoing series of stories about people who retired while they were making other plans. If you'd like the story of your unplanned retirement story featured in an upcoming post, please write me at retire@usnews.com and include your phone number. Or you can discuss your story in the comments section.
Tags: Alzheimer's disease | retirement
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (4) | Print
Reader Comments
Alzheimer's Disease Forced My Early Retirement
I was a senior executive at a fortune 1000 company with the goal of working until I was sixty-five and leading my own company as a Chief Executive Officer. However, at age 48, I began to present the symptoms of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. My symptoms included insomnia, speech difficulties, a problem with focus and concentration and a general problem with spatial awareness. As a result, I left work to seek a medical diagnosis and treatment. My desire was to identify and treat my problem and return to the workplace and resume my career. Unfortunately, after eighteen months and five separate diagnoses of early onset Alzheimer’s disease, I was forced to retire and seek Social Security disability.
Today, I spend my time and energy advocating for the National Alzheimer’s Association and raising awareness of the disease. All Americans should know the following facts:
• A person contracts Alzheimer’s disease every 71 seconds.
• A person dies from Alzheimer’s disease every 8 minutes.
• Alzheimer’s disease is fatal in all cases.
• No medication is available to slow the progression of the disease.
• As many as 5.2 million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer’s
disease and other related dementias.
• Between 200 and 500 thousand people with Alzheimer’s disease are
under the age of 65.
• 26 million people suffer from Alzheimer’s or other related dementias
worldwide.
• By mid-century, it is anticipated as many as 16 million Americans
will have Alzheimer’s disease or other related dementias.
• 10 million “baby boomers” will contract Alzheimer’s disease in their
lifetime.
• Federal funding for Alzheimer’s research has not been increased for
the past three years; less than 1 million dollars per year have been
allocated to fund research seeking a cure.
• Alzheimer’s disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S.
• Death attributed to Alzheimer’s disease increased by 44.7% between
2000 and 2005.
Maintaining Cognitive Function
It's true that in some cases Alzheimer's Disease starts quite early. It's also true that individuals likely will be working longer and living longer than past generations. What's needed is a practical program consisting of multiple components (nutrition, exercise, mental workouts) that can help people extend cognitive function over time, so they can stay productive in retirement, since for most people this 'retirement' is going to be greatly elongated while there also is predicted to be a shortage of employees in the future in many professions. Jim's story shows a living example of maintaining 'cognitive reserve' to stay at a high level of capability.
Alzheimer's disease and other dementias
Besides keeping busy, one should eat right and not smoke.
Also challenge your brain. Try new things and do old things in new ways.
By Susan Berg author of Adorable Photographs of Our Baby-Meaningful Mind Stimulating Activities and More for the Memory Challenged, Their Loved Ones and Involved Professionals a book for those with dementia and an excellent resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals.
http://www.alzheimersideas.com
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/dementiacare/
http://dementiaviews.blogspot.com
http://activitiesdirector.blogspot.com
Add your thoughts
Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.advertisement
