The only way to accurately diagnose it 100% is by autopsy.
Alzh is a 'disease' that causes the 'disorder' of Dementia. It is the Dementia that shows all the symptoms--ex: poor reasoning, deteriorating language skills, poor comprehension of language...eventually problems with walking, swallowing, etc. It's like watching someone go backward in time instead of forward. That's why the real advanced stage Alzh folks like stuffed animals, etc.-- that's now where they are developmentally.

Forgot to add...for diagnosis of Alzh: go to a good nuerologist who works with Alzh frequently. Also a geriatric psychiatrist. THey can help with medication management as the disease progresses.

A good neurologist they will run a ct scan of the brain if they have it,it will show up.Its like little pieces of plack on the brain

I have also been told that the final diagnosis should be by a neurologist and not to rely only on a GP.

"like watching someone go backward in time instead of forward"

This is such a good description. I take care of my husband and I also watch my 3 1/2 year old grandson while his mother is in college. It fascinates me to see how they are similar, my grandson is learning new skills everyday and can actually do things my husband can't and my husband is losing skills. It's kind of like that Benjamin Button movie.

I was diagnosed a little over a year ago. I went to a neurologist that specializes with dementia and/or AD. He sent me to a psychologist that also specializes with these disease and gave me a battery of test that took 4 hours to complete then I had a MRI done and my neurologist showed me the pictures of my brain and showed me what this disease has done and also told me what will happen over a period of time. I know I have this disease and I am not dead yet!!! I am taking medication to slow up the process and am doing very well taking it a day at a time. I do not aggree about not knowing if I have it or not. Everything I have studied and looked up from all kinds of point of view does verify my diagnosis. I am not sure what more could be done to let a person know. As far as blood test goes, the only thing I have heard about is supposedly a blood test that can let a person know if they have a certain gene in their blood that has to be present that may cause a person to have alzheimers some day. This is not true for everyone it is just like a person needing a certain gene to have a certain cancer, it is only stuff I have read about. I would not worry about this stuff because it does not make any difference if a person does or does not have a certain gene because nothing can be done about it anyway except for a person to worry about something they can not do about anyway and hopefully over time science will find a cure for this crap. Until then we all just have to learn to accept what happens to us and hopefully have an attitude adjustment if we find out we do have this crap and make the best of it. It makes dealing with this disase a lot easier when we do not fight what we can not control. God Bless Phil, Flops and Flossie

You are right about not fighting it, it seems like many caregivers I talk to really focus on what the LO has lost, what he should or should not be doing, etc instead of focusing on today, right now.

We heard that there's a blood test for the PS1 gene which is one of three indicators of Early Onset Alzheimers. Has anyone had this test done? Heard anything about it?

No, I haven't heard of it- they (doctors) tell me there is no test. I would like to know if such tests exist.

I have heard of the test but was thought it was still in the testing stage and not available to the general public.
Something that is just as easy and very available is to have your doctor test for cholesterol, those with extremely high levels that are resistant to meds have a 60% larger chance of developing AD then those wiht normal cholesterol levels.
That is because the same genes which carry cholesterol are supposed to remove the amyloids that cause the disease and when you have the APOE 4 gene have gotten one from each parent you are at much greater risk.
The upside of this is if you start looking at things like blood pressure, diet, and cholesterol levels while in your twenties and thirties and take aggressive action to get them under control you have a very good chance of avoiding the AD you'd otherwise have developed.

Thanks GeorgiaW. So, even though my concern is with Early Onset, cholesterol has an influence? The genetic test I'm referring to is for the PS1 mutation, which is autosomal dominant--meaning a 50% chance of inheriting it if one of my parents is a carrier, which my dad is. On the up side, my "bad" cholesterol is very low, so I'll keep working on that. Does HDL have an effect as well?

The high cholesterol is also an indicator with early onset AD which is what my husband has. He just turned 56 and it has been about three years since he was diagnoised with this disease which he inherited from his mom.
From what I remember early onset AD is ALWAYS inherited, most often from the mother if memory serves where as later onset can be from other things like diet and life style along with head injuries.
When the gene I spoke of is involved both types of cholestoral are way above normal which is not good. I reemmber seeing blood tests where the levels of LDL were over 300 and even the HDL was over 100, there can be to much of a good thing I guess.

i went to a neurologist, and had a mri. The white spot showed up in my cerebellum. So he said i had the early onset of Alzheimers.
Plus he said i had Parkisons. Im only 56. What did i do to deserve this?

kat, I'm so sorry to hear this. I am curious though, are you sure it's alzheimers you have and not Picks?
I could be wrong but I've heard that Picks is related to Parkinsons and is much more likely to happen to people who have that to begin with.
I don't think anyone can say for sure right now "what you did to deserve" this. We still know so little but having the wrong parents is still at the top of the list (that is you inherited the tendency) and then life style and exposure to toxins did the rest, or maybe just plain stress caused those genes to kick on.
Once these disease are in progress we can't do a whole hell of a lot to stop them, slow them maybe and make them easier to live with for awhile but not stop them.
This is why I'm such a pain in the butt with family members of those developing AD and other dementias. There is quiet a bit you can do to prevent the disease if you start young, like in your 20's or even earlier so children and grandchildren could cut the incidence remarkably if they tried.
I hope that besides the medications you are doing everything you can, like eating properly and using supplements which are shown to promote brain health.
The last lecture I went to about a year ago the expert (Dr. Wolf from UCLA medical) was optimistic that within a year or two there would be better meds for control and even possible cures for those still in the early to mid stages of this disease.
Your job, and that of us caregivers, is to try to keep your brain as healthy and functioning while we wait and pray for those cures.