I am a 54 years old male in good overall health, married for 17 years in a occasionally tense relationship with my wife but with two wonderful kids. A mild hypertension is managed well with a beta blocker (celiprolol) and olmesartan so that my blood pressure is pretty steady at around 120/80; some palpitations (PVCs and PACs) crop up after particularly stressful periods. I am a Civil Engineer with a PhD from Northwestern University and I am a faculty member at an established Greek University.
The bane of my life (or so I think) is that both parents suffered from Alzheimer's (!) although they were diagnosed after 85 years of age. Dad passed away in 2004 (88 years old), mom is now 89 with severe dementia, needs diapers, cannot talk, cannot walk without help although she still appreciates my attempts at humor and responds happy smiles.
I have been scared lifeless of sliding to dementia for the last 10 years, first seeing my dad and now my mom walk down that slippery path. I confess that this is a source of great distress for me.
Here are my present concerns. About 3 years ago, I had a weird episode of not being able to locate which of the little doors to loft (sort of a small attic, a European thing usual in apartments) contained our hot water heater (I lived in the house for 15 years, I very well know). It was as if my mind stopped for a moment. I walked around in the living room for 3 to 4 seconds in total disbelief but finally it came to me and I located the correct door.
Although there have been no intervening episodes since that time, I had a couple of similar weird momentary disorientations (for lack of a better word) lately. In the beginning of September 2014, on the night we came back to our winter apartment from our summerhouse (having been there for about three months) I caught myself looking at two cupboards in our kitchen and being unable to remember which of the two contained coffee mugs. After 2-3 seconds of disbelief, I just opened one of them and it all came back to me.
I almost forgot about it until the beginning of October (one month later) when while walking with my daughter in a nearby (pretty big) part again for a couple of seconds I looked at the nearby exit we were walking towards and could not figure out exactly where it lead. I have walked in that park dozens of time and should remember all exits perfectly well.
This time I was really scared and I got into a hypochondriac state for a couple of weeks, being almost continuously preoccupied with the possibility of having early onset Alzheimer’s. I searched the Internet, read papers, took online tests (I aced them, usually ranking in the top 5% of cognitive ability, although my short term memory is, I think the weakest of my cognitive skills).
The last episode, which made me want to post here, was four days ago: I was at the supermarket I have been shopping for the last 5 years, when for a couple of seconds I could not remember exactly where are the escalators that lead to the second floor. Although it came back to me after 2 seconds (literally), this unusual event really made me scared to death of what may be happening to me.
I would appreciate a Doctor’s take on my story as well as any feedback from fellow members.