The pressures of everyday life can sometimes take a toll on our mental clarity and well-being. But for Jude Thorp, a 59-year-old mother of two living in Oxford, England, it became clear that something was seriously wrong when she first started noticing a change in her abilities while on the job, The Independent reports.
After years of experience in a career in theater, Thorp realized she had more difficulty completing simple tasks or focusing on her work. She soon noticed she was also repeating questions, forgetting important conversations, feeling fatigued, and having difficulty coming up with the right words during conversations.
Despite the changes, Thorp didn’t seek medical attention until her wife convinced her to book an appointment with a specialist in November 2016. But upon examination, she said her doctors quickly wrote her symptoms off as the result of stress and said “she had too much going on” in her life.
“Imagine, you know, just being told that you’re a bit daft,” she told The Independent, describing it as a “humiliating” experience. “That was my first time going to the doctors for something serious in my life, and it was horrendous, and afterward they said there’s nothing wrong with me.”