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People knowing about fake stuff NOW, who will have Alzheimer in 40 Years, will NOT forget that there are fake bus-stops and stuff in the backyard. So they will know that nursing homes have fake stuff and they will complain about it.

My opinion about "it's sad": Alzheimer is not very sad for the pacients, but for their families. The patients, like my grandfather and grandmother, don't really know they _have_ it, and they don't really care. They still have 100% functional feelings and experiences. Just their short time memory will let them forget anything very soon. But old memories persists.

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Sorry, but this a very limited description of the disease. Alzheimer's, like all dementias, is a disease of the brain, not "just memory". It comes with a whole suite of symptoms and difficulties that are experienced directly by the patient, including depression, irritability, aphasias, and often physical limitations in advanced cases.

Long-term memory loss dominates public perception of the disease, but as anyone who works with dementia can tell you, most of the time it is as distressing for the patient as it is for the family.

Dementia is a part of my condition (which seems to be idiopathic, presenting symptoms of both Parkinson's and Huntington's). The motor difficulties and aphasic episodes are the things that I can't explain away, even though the explanations for other things are often quite convoluted. There was a period of some weeks a couple of years ago now when I amassed what must have been the largest privately-held collection of tomato ketchup in Canada, apparently by going shopping for food I needed and, having no idea why I was in a grocery store (or, for that matter, which store I was in) deciding that I was probably nearly out of ketchup anyway, and that I could get out of the store without embarrassment if I bought a bottle. I lost nearly thirty pounds that month, and wound up in the hospital twice due to extreme dehydration. Apparently I was not particularly nice to the people who were trying to help me, since I didn't need their damned help anyway, and they were trying to poison me. Things are considerably better now with medication, but there are still times when I find myself completely lost in what should be familiar territory. And I'm no longer really attached to anybody; it's like that part of me is missing now, and I can't sustain anything like caring. I don't know how much of the depression and irritation is part of the pathology and how much is just frustration and fear (terror, really) that never really goes away. Sometimes I think that if there is ever a root cause found and a cure effected, it would take me many years before I would trust normal life again.

I've wondered about this. In my mid-20s I decided upon a signal that I would send myself should I be stricken with a mental illness like Alzheimer's. I don't know if it'll work, but I remember it very strongly and wonder if I will be able to recall it should such a situation arise. I'm in my mid-30s now and have hopefully a long time to go before I should start letting people in on my plan.

The idea is that if I am aware that I am suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's, I will hopefully make life easier for those caring for me (e.g., stay calm when my son/daughter I do not recognize is attempting to care for me).

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