I suppose I don't have to tell anyone here that caring for my 80 year old mom with AD is consuming. I've educated myself about the disease and how to care for her. I'm 50 and don't have any obvious signs, but at times I worry. My husband's father was diagnosed at 78, but died of unrelated issues & I worry for him also. Both our parents were avid readers, did crossword puzzles, took care of their health and didn't have any risk factors. Yikes.
Of my four grandparents, one (also an alcoholic) had dementia, and one only lived to 54 (skin cancer). The other two (paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather) were spitfires till they died. So there's no way of knowing which way the genetic wheel will spin....
Since my father and grandmother passed, I have this general worry too. I don't know what's worst sometimes losing one's body or one's mind. I am trying to eat better, move more and I hope be able to tell my loved ones in advance how I wanted to be cared for in case this happens to me.
I think we get so absorbed with caretaking and the person's ailments, like dementia, that we are too close. I've read where this happens to a lot of caregivers.
I am in general age decline due to my age [early 70's] but if I forget something, or find a miss-typed word, or I forgot to do something, I go into a frenzy and get the shakes. Oh how I wished I could be uninformed about dementia for myself. There would be less sleepless nights :P