I WAS ONLY 58 WHEN I WAS DIAGNOSED
DEMENTIA is increasingly being diagnosed in younger adults. Some experts believe up to 100,000 people in their 30s, 40s and 50s may have it. Former adult educator Gail Morgan, 63, who lives in Cwmbran, South Wales, was 58 when she was diagnosed:
WHEN a psychiatrist told me I had Alzheimer’s I cried for an eternity. I kept saying, ‘Why me?’ It was a total shock. I mean, I wasn’t an ‘old’ person.
But looking back, I can see that I was having problems long before I was diagnosed.
My boss had started pulling me up on minor things, such as grammatical errors, about six years before that.
Three years later my GP diagnosed me with dysthymia — a form of depression. I thought it was just the stresses and strains of my life.
My daughters Debbie, who’s 38, and Katy, who is 35, suspect I was simply misdiagnosed.
At the time, I was aware I was becoming forgetful. I’d go upstairs, then forget what I’d gone up for. After my diagnosis of depression, I started going to my GP about my forgetfulness.
Two years later, I was referred to a neurologist. I had memory tests, and scans that showed my brain had shrunk and the blood vessels leading to it had narrowed, which was highly abnormal for somebody my age. That was the main reason for my diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.
They don’t know why I got it. I might just have unlucky genes.
I’ve been on Aricept tablets since 2009 to try to delay the progress of the illness, but over the past five years my health has deteriorated noticeably.
Just over a year ago my daughters got carers to come in to help with my meals after they started noticing that I would put things in the oven and forget about them.
I also don’t go out by myself. A year ago, I went to the supermarket. I paid for the groceries, but just couldn’t work out how to get out of the store. I got terribly upset.
Routine is crucial. I have a calendar to put all my appointments on. When I get up I circle that day, and notes remind me to take my purse and keys if I am leaving the house.
I don’t want to sit at home feeling miserable. I have a bucket list that includes trips away, seeing musicals and going to the cinema. My mantra is to enjoy life while I can.