We envision a future in which we know why Women are at greater risk for Alzheimer’s and we have a cure for the disease.
THE STORY OF THE WOMEN’S ALZHEIMER’S MOVEMENT
In 2003, award-winning journalist Maria Shriver’s father, Sargent Shriver, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, a diagnosis that put her on the path toward becoming one of the world’s most recognizable Alzheimer’s advocates. In 2010, she partnered with the Alzheimer’s Association to publish The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Takes on Alzheimer’s, which broke the story that two out of three brains that develop Alzheimer’s belong to women. This groundbreaking report was the catalyst for founding the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement (WAM) – the world’s first organization devoted exclusively to women and Alzheimer’s disease.
WAM’s innovative work in Alzheimer’s disease prevention complemented research efforts and programming at Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2020, the two organizations collaborated to open the world’s first and only Alzheimer’s disease prevention center for women: The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Prevention Center at Cleveland Clinic.
This successful collaboration laid the foundation for the two organizations to further build upon our shared mission, and in 2022 we took this partnership further. Today, the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement at Cleveland Clinic is the preeminent organization for women and Alzheimer’s disease, fighting every day to change the future of women’s brain health through innovative science, education, funding and advocacy.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to discover why Alzheimer’s discriminates against women and communities of color and to prepare women and their families for the impact of Alzheimer’s by providing them with information and tools to help prevent the disease.
https://thewomensalzheimersmovement.org/
OURÂ VISION
We envision a future in which we know why Women are at greater risk for Alzheimer’s and we have a cure for the disease.
OURÂ WORK
We work to change the future for women and Alzheimer’s by focusing on the four pillars: research, education, advocacy and clinical care.
- We fund critical gender based research to advance our knowledge of how Alzheimer’s affects women.
- We educate the public about Alzheimer’s through summits, national polls, reports and educational guides.
- We advocate at all levels of government for policies, increased funding and other social, political and economic changes that will move the needle on Alzheimer’s.
- We provide on the ground services to give women the medical guidance they need to reduce their risk for developing the disease.
here are several different types of dementia, like Lewy body dementia and frontotemporal dementia, that each have different origins and their own set of unique symptoms. In most cases, people who develop dementia experience relatively similar symptoms early on that get worse over time.
These symptoms can not only have an impact on your ability to think and act clearly, but they can also have an impact on your physical, mental and emotional health. In many cases, early signs of dementia are often paired with a difficulty handling changes in routine, behavior and patterns of thinking.
Here are some common early signs:
-Getting lost in familiar places.
When you have dementia, you may wander from time to time, or get confused in familiar surroundings. If you find yourself getting lost in familiar locations like your neighborhood, on your daily route to work or school, or even inside your home, that may be a cause for concern.
-Forgetting short-term conversations.
Occasional forgetfulness and having trouble finding the right word in a conversation is behavior we’re all familiar with. But if this happens more frequently and you find yourself forgetting conversations you had just minutes or hours ago, or you have a hard time pulling up a name of someone close to you, that may be worrisome.
-Difficulty making decisions and keeping up with the changes.
If someone is having trouble making decisions or seems easily confused by things that they normally would have been able to handle, that may be a concerning situation.
-Having a hard time doing simple math and handling money.
If you’ve been previously good with numbers but have trouble doing simple arithmetic while paying bills, counting your finances or coming up with a tip at a restaurant, these behaviors may have cause for concern. An inability to pay attention to even the smallest details or difficulty reasoning are common symptoms of dementia.
-Slowing down.
It’s natural to slow down a little as we age, but it shouldn’t have too much of an impact on your ability to get through the day. Other physical symptoms of dementia may also appear in the form of loss of hearing or vision.
Does memory loss mean dementia is starting?
One common misbelief about memory loss is that it always means you or a loved one has dementia. There are many causes of memory loss. Memory loss alone doesn’t necessarily confirm a diagnosis of dementia.
Several health conditions can cause memory loss and forgetfulness, including:
Depression and anxiety
Thyroid disease
Diabetes
COVID-19
Lyme disease
It’s also true that some memory changes are normal as a person ages (some neurons in your brain naturally die as we age). However, this type of memory loss isn’t functionally disabling; meaning, it doesn’t interfere with daily life.
Dementia interferes with your ability to function. Dementia isn’t forgetting where you left your keys. A person with dementia can have situations like forgetting what keys are used for. Dementia isn’t a normal part of aging.
Memory loss can be a frightening possibility to consider, especially if you think you see the symptoms in yourself. If you’re worried about memory loss, you should talk to your healthcare provider. They can look for or diagnose any issues you might have or offer suggestions. Proper diagnosis is crucial. If you have a health concern causing memory loss, your provider can offer treatment suggestions and other ways to help you.
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