Alzheimers

All my childhood I grew up with my Bubby (Great grandmother) who developed Alzheimer's when I was about twelve years old. Since then I have always valued my memories, and pressured myself to remember every single important thing or piece of information (doesn't always happen) I continuously write everything down and keep journals so I can look back and remember my memories. It is pretty obvious I am afraid I will develop Alzheimer's. So is bad memory just bad memory or something more? How do you know when you have Alzheimer's? On the website www.seniorhealth.about.com there is a list of "signs" of Alzheimer's. One of the signs is forgetting how to use ordinary objects such as a pencil (I suppose forgetting how to use a pencil is more than bad memory). But then there are the things like forgetting to lock the door, shut off the oven or close the windows, all of which are things I and everyone else is very capable of forgetting. Can we stop Alzheimer's? Do slight signs of Alzheimer's show in young age? No fear, because at the end it assures me that everyone forgets some things, and it doesn't mean you have Alzheimer's :) . At www.mayoclinic.com they say that early onset Alzheimer's can develop at the age of 30 t0 40 but it is very very uncommon, it can also develop at the age of 65 and older. Unfortunately Alzheimer's is said to run in families, so genetic testing is available.