“That was thrilling,” said Lawrence, who is 58 and just starting to show signs of Alzheimer’s.

“He is still very functioning, but worsening,” Marty says of his father, who lives in Greeley, Colorado, with his mother Bonnie. “It has most affected his speech.”

Lawrence says it takes about five minutes to get himself a bowl of cold cereal and a spoon in the mornings, largely because he gets distracted so often.

“He has a fantastic attitude. He laughs at himself and allows others to laugh about his mistakes,” Marty said. “Here he is, faced with this cruel, slow ending to his life, and the embarrassment factor is huge.”

When people are in their 90’s and make social gaffes, people tend to excuse them, Marty said. “‘When you make those same social mistakes at age 58, the people who know what is going on give you grace, but everyone else wonders what is wrong with you.’”

ANXIETY

Despite all the hope, some doctors and social workers who treat Alzheimer’s and care for their families say the push for early testing is premature.

“The tests are so inaccurate at this point that I don’t know what the value is other than to create a lot of anxiety,” said Debra Greenberg, geriatrics social worker at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

Greenberg is skeptical of polls showing strong interest in early testing, especially when they are done among people who are young and healthy.

“I think what you decide when you are a healthy and well 40-year-old is very different from what you decide when you are older,” she said. “You are not that 40-year-old when this happens to you.”

Other Alzheimer’s experts see value in early diagnosis.

“We think right now, today, there is a clear benefit of an early diagnosis,” says Bill Thies, chief scientific officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, whose group has been a proponent of early diagnostics for many years.

One reason is that studies suggest people who understand the course of Alzheimer’s disease and what to expect from it cope better with the disease.

“This is true of patients and caregivers,” Thies said.

Thies said an early diagnosis also helps with end-of-life decisions, allowing the patient to plan their care instead of leaving these decisions to others.

It also leaves time for financial planning.

“If you know you’re starting down that path, you know to get your affairs in order. You take care of family issues so it won’t be a big surprise later when it gets worse,” said Dr. Creighton Phelps, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center Programs in the National Institute on Aging’s division of neuroscience.

But Blendon of Harvard worries about raising expectations by testing people and not offering treatments.