It doesn’t then just pop into your head an hour while you’re driving down the street. You’re doing five things at once and you never actually paid attention to where you put them in the first place.So the signs are like, you can’t remember the name, and then you don’t have the first letter, you don’t have the number of syllables. Most of us, when we can’t find our keys, it actually isn’t a memory problem, it’s an attention problem. And yet with Alzheimer’s, it’s something slightly different. Lisa Genova: Okay, well this is what everyone’s terrified of, right? Because you’ve probably within the last day or two, walked into a room and thought “Why did I come in here?” or “Where are my keys?” or “Oh, what’s his name?” So that tip of the tongue “Oh, what’s his name?” The average 25-year-old experiences that three to four times a week and that does increase as we age.

Jeffrey Brown: How do you recognize the symptoms of someone with Alzheimer’s, someone around you? And what do you do? Watch more with Genova on tonight’s PBS NewsHour. Here is an excerpt from their conversation. Genova, who is also a neuroscientist, joined Jeffrey Brown to discuss the disease’s symptoms and how different people react to them.

The book has raised awareness about the disease and its film adaptation is getting its own spotlight during this year’s Oscar season.īut Alzheimer’s disease, which affects 5 million Americans and their families, still has no known cure. In Lisa Genova’s bestselling novel “Still Alice,” a linguist with early-onset Alzheimer’s navigates her symptoms with her husband and three adult children. in neuroscience, writes about families coping with neurological diseases or disorders, which she says are often “ignored, feared or misunderstood.” Watch her interview with Jeffrey Brown on tonight’s PBS NewsHour. “Still Alice” author Lisa Genova, who has her PhD.

Still alice by lisa genova