Woman, 31, With Rare Form of Alzheimer's Doesn't Know Own Baby
By Catherine Donaldson-Evans Apr 12th 2010 12:33PM
A 31-year-old woman with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease doesn't recognize her own newborn daughter and has been unable to even hold the baby, according to the U.K.'s Daily Mail.
Rebecca Doig, who lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband Scott, gave birth to baby Emily last week. But during her pregnancy, her Alzheimer's worsened so quickly that she now doesn't know who the baby is and needs 24-hour care herself, the newspaper reported.
"She has gone from being an independent, outgoing and bright young woman to someone who doesn't recognize her own newborn daughter," Scott Doig told the Mail. "The road ahead is going to be extremely difficult, there's no two ways about it. We just take every day as it comes."
The couple first realized something was wrong when Rebecca Doig started to forget where she put her purse and other belongings and isolated herself from her family and friends. She underwent tests to determine what was causing her memory loss.
During her medical examinations, the Doigs found out she was pregnant. Sadly, days later, she was diagnosed with a type of early-onset dementia called Familial Alzheimer's, the Mail reported.
The incurable condition resembles the disease that usually afflicts the elderly, but advances much more rapidly so that patients who have it suffer from severe loss of memory in a matter of months.
Caused by a gene mutation, Familial Alzheimer's usually develops in people in their 30s and 40s and accounts for only 5 percent of all instances of Alzheimer's.
Rebecca Doig now shows indifference to her baby girl, doesn't remember Emily's birth and isn't able to hold her in her arms. Her husband says the woman he married, who used to be the "life of the party," is a shell of her former self. Luckily, she didn't pass on the gene for the disease to her daughter.
"She is like an 80-year-old going on 5 years old," he told the Mail. "She's lost her recent memory and emotions – inspiration, joy, happiness ... But she is my life and I am not giving up on her."
Source: AOlHealth.com
By Catherine Donaldson-Evans Apr 12th 2010 12:33PM
A 31-year-old woman with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease doesn't recognize her own newborn daughter and has been unable to even hold the baby, according to the U.K.'s Daily Mail.
Rebecca Doig, who lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband Scott, gave birth to baby Emily last week. But during her pregnancy, her Alzheimer's worsened so quickly that she now doesn't know who the baby is and needs 24-hour care herself, the newspaper reported.
"She has gone from being an independent, outgoing and bright young woman to someone who doesn't recognize her own newborn daughter," Scott Doig told the Mail. "The road ahead is going to be extremely difficult, there's no two ways about it. We just take every day as it comes."
The couple first realized something was wrong when Rebecca Doig started to forget where she put her purse and other belongings and isolated herself from her family and friends. She underwent tests to determine what was causing her memory loss.
During her medical examinations, the Doigs found out she was pregnant. Sadly, days later, she was diagnosed with a type of early-onset dementia called Familial Alzheimer's, the Mail reported.
The incurable condition resembles the disease that usually afflicts the elderly, but advances much more rapidly so that patients who have it suffer from severe loss of memory in a matter of months.
Caused by a gene mutation, Familial Alzheimer's usually develops in people in their 30s and 40s and accounts for only 5 percent of all instances of Alzheimer's.
Rebecca Doig now shows indifference to her baby girl, doesn't remember Emily's birth and isn't able to hold her in her arms. Her husband says the woman he married, who used to be the "life of the party," is a shell of her former self. Luckily, she didn't pass on the gene for the disease to her daughter.
"She is like an 80-year-old going on 5 years old," he told the Mail. "She's lost her recent memory and emotions – inspiration, joy, happiness ... But she is my life and I am not giving up on her."
Source: AOlHealth.com
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