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I'm a dementia expert who spent 25 years caring for patients… now I've been diagnosed with Alzheimer's myself. This is what I'm doing to slow down the disease

Daniel Gibbs, 72, is a retired neurologist in the U.S., who has early stage Alzheimer's dementia. He spent 25 years caring for patients, many with dementia - and has written a compelling book combining his expert insight with his own experience, which includes taking part in trials of a 'breakthrough' dementia drug.

Source: Cubes | 

04.12.2024, 16:24

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Daniel Gibbs, 72, is a retired neurologist in the U.S., who has early stage Alzheimer’s dementia. He spent 25 years caring for patients, many with dementia — and has written a compelling book combining his expert insight with his own experience, which includes taking part in trials of a ‘breakthrough’ dementia drug.

Looking back, my first symptom of Alzheimer’s disease occurred in 2006 when I was 55 and realised that my sense of smell was not as sharp as it had been.

At the time I assumed it was down to ageing. But within five years, I couldn’t smell a thing.

I wasn’t particularly worried until in 2012, while doing genealogical research (my wife, Lois, thought DNA testing would help in filling in some of the missing branches of our ancestral trees), I discovered I have two copies of the APOE-4 allele.

This is a variant of the APOE gene and is the most significant genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease — having one copy increases your risk by about three-fold; two copies by about 12-fold.

Daniel Gibbs, pictured with his wife, says dementia was not on his 'radar' until his diagnosis

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