{"id":8372,"date":"2025-11-15T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=8372"},"modified":"2025-11-19T21:34:57","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T21:34:57","slug":"i-thought-i-was-just-forgetful-after-having-a-baby-it-was-alzheimers-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/15\/i-thought-i-was-just-forgetful-after-having-a-baby-it-was-alzheimers-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"I thought I was just forgetful after having a baby \u2014 it was Alzheimer\u2019s disease"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Staci\t<\/div>
Staci was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers in October 2024 (Picture: Staci Marklin \/ SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After 47-year-old Staci Marklin gave birth in 2022, she started to experience memory loss. <\/p>\n

Initially, she put this down to her pregnancy <\/a>and post-partum<\/a> ‘mum brain,’ but when she started to struggle with her speech and mix up words, she worried that there was something seriously wrong.<\/p>\n

The 47-year-old, who is a former nurse living in Knoxville, Tennessee, finds it hard to recall exactly when her symptoms started.<\/p>\n

‘I initially brushed off the forgetfulness on pregnancy <\/a>and postpartum mum brain. I would say stuff like “move the carpet” instead of “move the curtain,”‘ she says. ‘It’s such a hard thing to believe at such a young age.’<\/p>\n

Almost two years later, though, she was still struggling. For the first time, she seriously started to consider the prospect that she could be living with Alzheimer’s, as her grandma was previously diagnosed with it.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Staci\t<\/div>
Staci initially put her symptoms down to post-partum (Picture: Staci Marklin \/ SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, after she took herself to the doctor’s, she was initially reassured that her chances of having early-onset dementia were relatively low. She was told it would be ‘rare’ at her age, considering that just one in around 13 people living with Alzheimer’s are under the age of 65.<\/p>\n

But as her symptoms began to worsen even further, even impacting her working life and forgetting her son’s birthday, Staci underwent a series of tests.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Staci\t<\/div>
Staci has forgotten things like her son’s birthday (Picture: Staci Marklin \/ SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Initially, the MRIs, EEG and blood tests flagged as normal, but in October 2024, further tests revealed that her blood markers were indeed indicative of Alzheimer’s disease.<\/p>\n

She reflects: ‘There would be times when things would just disappear from my brain. Someone once asked me about a co-worker, and I had absolutely no idea who they were talking about.<\/p>\n

‘I could tell it was someone I should know by the way they were talking. It was a few days later when I realised it was a co-worker that I had worked really closely with.’<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Staci\t<\/div>
Staci is worried about the impact it’ll have on her children (Picture: Staci Marklin \/ SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By the time she received the tests, she’d already stopped her work as she ‘knew something was wrong.’ The tests revealed that her cognitive function level was in the bottom zero to 10% expected for her age group – and she instantly knew what this meant for her.<\/p>\n

‘I was with my husband at the time and we were in shock. We cried together and knew nothing would ever be the same again,’ she says.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Staci\t<\/div>
Staci has started to make plans for her future (Picture: Staci Marklin \/ SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following her diagnosis, Staci has had to deal with people disbelieving her, largely since the disease is often misbranded as exclusively for older people.<\/p>\n

‘The stigma that is associated with this disease is also problematic. People generally see this as an older person’s disease and view people with Alzheimer’s as if they can’t do anything for themselves,’ she shares.<\/p>\n

‘It was difficult for me to get people to believe me and to trust the results.’<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
@tryingnottoforget<\/a> <\/p>\n

Replying to @debfrenchmcelfish I was already scared before this though #earlyonsetalzheimers<\/a> #womenover40<\/a> #alzheimers<\/a> #caregiver<\/a> #toddlermom<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u266c original sound – Stacimichelle<\/a> <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

With a tough future ahead of her and her family, Staci has already started to make plans, making videos on TikTok<\/a> for her family to remember her by, which includes her now three-year-old son, Gunnar, her 46-year-old husband Erik, and her 21-year-old stepdaughter Rylee.<\/p>\n

She’s also been prescribed a new medication, lecanemab, which is specifically used to treat early-onset Alzheimer’s, comprised of bi-monthly infusions. They’re designed to remove harmful plaques in the brain.<\/p>\n

Conducted over the course of 18 months, one previous study concluded that this specific treatment effectively slowed cognitive decline in patients, and Staci is hoping for a similar trajectory.<\/p>\n

‘All I can do is hope, but I’m scared. I’m scared that my three-year-old will grow up without his mom,’ Staci told her followers in one TikTok video.<\/p>\n

‘I’m scared that he’ll cry and I won’t be there to comfort him. I’m scared that my husband will grow old without me. The list goes on, but I choose to be positive, and I have hope. That’s all I can do.’<\/p>\n

Do you have a story to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\tComment now<\/title><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-preferred-source\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/metro.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Staci was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers in October 2024 (Picture: Staci Marklin \/ SWNS) After 47-year-old Staci Marklin gave birth in 2022, she started to experience memory loss. Initially, she put this down to her pregnancy and post-partum ‘mum brain,’ but when she started to struggle with her speech and mix up words, she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8372"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8380,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372\/revisions\/8380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}