[outworlder]

It's worse. Not recognizing people close to you is really hard on everyone else(including people taking care of you), but since you don't remember, it's not as bad for you.

You won't even remember whether or not you had lunch. I met a grandma that was distraught that nobody was feeding her and she was hungry. Except she had had lunch already but couldn't remember. You forget where you live so if you get out of the house you can't get back. And many have 'sundowning', they get scared if they are outside and the night falls. It's not just the forgetting either, you start losing fundamental functions and eventually die. Not to mention the aggression and mood swings, which are aggravated if you try to point out that they are forgetting things.

It's a terrible disease. You cease to be you.

[groos]

What most people don't realize is that Alzheimer's - and its friend FTD - are terminal diseases with life expectancy just as bad as many cancers. Hardly anyone makes it to 5 years after diagnosis. The bodily degeneration that eventually results in the patient being utterly unable to function is heartbreaking. Forgetting things is a relatively minor symptom. It's also terrible on the family members of the patient whose mental health also suffers along the way.