Gerrard Kaonga
A woman has spoken about the shock of being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s and the symptoms she experienced.
A 47-year-old woman from Knoxville, Tennessee, felt something was wrong but never thought it would be a serious condition, especially one most often associated with older individuals.
Staci Marklin had recently become a mother so thought what she was experiencing was just ‘mom brain’ post-partum.
According to John Hopkins Medicine, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia.
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It is most common in older adults but if it happens to someone younger than age 65, it is known as early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
The disease itself affects memory, thinking and behavior, it can often progress to a point where an individual requires considerable health care and can impact their daily activities and functions.
According to the hospital, ‘experts don't know what triggers the start of Alzheimer disease’ but the only known risk for early onset is family history of the disease.
Speaking of her own symptoms, Marklin said they occurred subtly, for Staci said she began switch words around for other things.
She explained: "It's hard to say when the symptoms actually started because I was having them when I was pregnant and post-partum with my son.
"I initially brushed the forgetfulness on pregnancy and postpartum mom brain.
"I would say stuff like 'move the carpet' instead of 'move the curtain.'"
As well as this, she spoke of an incident where pieces of information would completely vanish from her mind.
She said: “There would be times when things would just disappear from my brain.
“Someone once asked me about a co-worker, and I had absolutely no idea who they were talking about.
"I could tell it was someone I should know by the way they were talking.
"It was a few days later when I realized it was a co-worker that I had worked really closely with."
When Marklin did go to the doctors, she was told by the doctor that the chance of her having the condition would be ‘rare’, despite her grandmother was diagnosed with the disease.
However, after a series of tests, Staci was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's in October 2024, with an amyloid PET scan revealing amyloid plaques in her brain.
Staci has now started new treatment and has spoken out about the stigma faced by patients and has started sharing her journey on social media.
Staci said: “People generally see this as an older person's disease and view people with Alzheimer's as if they can't do anything for themselves.
“It was difficult for me to get people to believe me and to trust the results I had gotten."