'A study to give us hope': Lifestyle changes improve Alzheimer's symptoms for some

Researchers are trying to determine if lifestyle interventions show cognitive improvement in people with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.

Looking back, Tammy Maida, 67, said things started to change in her late 50s. At first, she would lose track of her belongings: her keys multiple times a day, a ring, eyeglasses, her purse.

She would drive to the grocery store in her hometown of San Jose, California, and forget where she parked the car. At home, she couldn’t remember where she had put the groceries. Her husband, Paul, would sometimes find them in the garage.

A lifelong, avid reader, Maida stopped picking up books because she couldn’t remember the last chapter she had read or the major characters.

“I honestly thought I was losing my mind, and the fear of losing my mind was frightening,” she told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta for the CNN documentary “The Last Alzheimer’s Patient.”

Today, Maida is back to devouring short novels and helping with the family finances.

Another patient, Mike Carver, 71, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s at age 64 while working as a business executive. Doctors told him to put his affairs in order with little hope for the future. Carver eventually learned that he was a carrier of both copies of the APOE4 gene, which carries the highest-known genetic risk for Alzheimer’s.

Now, however, Carver is back to reconciling the family finances and keeping track of investments.