Hello. First let me say, thanks for letting me ask these questions here. I don't want to dwell too much on this or Google anything else but a conversation I had with my father this week has made me very nervous. We were discussing health and family history and he mentioned that his aunt on his mothers side (my great aunt) passed away at 54 from ALS. As far as I know, this is the only person in my family that has had ALS. However, my grandmother is one of three and she passed away at 78 from Alzheimers complications. Her remaining sister also passed away from Alzheimers related complications at 74. I've read that familial ALS is also associated with FTD and that it is often misdiagnosed as Alzheimers. The high incidence of dementia and ALS (3 out of 3) concerned me.
I'm trying to focus on the positives. My great aunt with ALS did not have children so no way to know if anything was passed on. My grandmother had five kids. One passed away from Sarcoidosis at 64 after battling it for many years. He suffered from severe dementia the last six months of the disease but the disease was everywhere at that point. My father and his remaining siblings are all still alive and healthy (ages 59 - 70). My father is 64 and no troubling behavior that doesn't seem to just be age related. My grandmothers other sister had three children. All are healthy and in their late 40s / early 50s. I have lots of cousins ranging from young to 40s and no other sign of ALS or dementia.
I apologize for the long post and not even sure what I'm asking. Does this seem worrying for a genetic cause of ALS / dementia or more likely an isolated case and typical advancing age Alzheimers?
Thank you so much for your time.
I'm trying to focus on the positives. My great aunt with ALS did not have children so no way to know if anything was passed on. My grandmother had five kids. One passed away from Sarcoidosis at 64 after battling it for many years. He suffered from severe dementia the last six months of the disease but the disease was everywhere at that point. My father and his remaining siblings are all still alive and healthy (ages 59 - 70). My father is 64 and no troubling behavior that doesn't seem to just be age related. My grandmothers other sister had three children. All are healthy and in their late 40s / early 50s. I have lots of cousins ranging from young to 40s and no other sign of ALS or dementia.
I apologize for the long post and not even sure what I'm asking. Does this seem worrying for a genetic cause of ALS / dementia or more likely an isolated case and typical advancing age Alzheimers?
Thank you so much for your time.