My mother is 65 yrs old . She has problems with her memory and repeats herself a lot. We have put this down to the natural ageing process.Although I think we have had our heads in the sand. I visited over christmas and it was much worse she seemed like a different person in some respects but I couldnt put my finger on what it was. She refused to go to a family party at the last minute and her reasons were difficult to pin down and she became quite irritable about it which is not like her. I noticed that she had problems cooking things she has cooked for years and would forget to include part of the recipe. She is currently visiting my sister in Australia and has been there for 6 wks and returns in 2 wks. My sister has told me that Mum is very disorientated and has asked every day what day she flies back. She even dressed for the airport the other evening despite my sister sitting down with her and explaining for about the 50th time what the plans were and that she did not leave for 12 days. She goes to her room when people come to the house that she would normally mix with and she has met before. My sister and I know what is ahead as my grandmother had alzheimers. We are trying to bring the subject up with my mum and get her to go to the doctor but so far have met a brick wall where mum is concerned. She laughs it off and I can now see that we have been all too eager to go along with this. Mum now seems so anxious and scared all the time it is heartbreaking.Does anyone have any advise about bringing this up with her and getting her to discuss it. I am so worried and scared by how quickly this has happened. This time last year she was in Australia and having a wonderful time. In the space of a year what seemed like normal memory loss has become frightening.