It felt like no one believed I could have it
WHEN Tracey Lane started losing her memory, she knew it wasn’t down to simply ‘being forgetful’.
The school administrator, 52, found she could no longer recognise faces or remember names – and became increasingly confused.
But for four years doctors insisted there was nothing wrong with her.
‘At first I was told it could be depression, but the anti-depressants didn’t work,’ she said. ‘Then I was told it was most likely the menopause… but hormone replacement therapy also didn’t work.’
Even when she was referred to a neurologist, they told her it was probably just stress.
‘I felt like due to my age, nobody believed me,’ said Mrs Lane, who lives with husband Mike, 57, in Clevedon, Somerset. ‘I started to feel unreliable. This wasn’t just “forgetfulness”. I knew it wasn’t.’
Finally, in April last year, Mrs Lane, who has two adult sons, was diagnosed with dementia after a brain scan. She said: ‘In many ways when they finally told me I had dementia it was a relief – it was the not knowing that was the worst part.’