Woman in her forties thought she had menopause symptoms – but it was far worse (2025)

A 48-year-old woman shared that what she believed were symptoms of stress and entering menopause turned out to be signs of another condition. She is now sharing her experience

A woman in her late forties was left stunned after discovering that what she thought were symptoms of perimenopause were actually indicative of early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Rebecca Luna turned to TikTok on April 11 to share with her followers the news of her diagnosis. "I am in the very early stages of a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's. I am 48 years old," she disclosed at the beginning of her video.

Johns Hopkins Medicine defines early-onset Alzheimer's disease, also known as younger-onset Alzheimer's, as the occurrence of dementia symptoms before the age of 65.

In her heartfelt TikTok post, Rebecca expressed feeling isolated due to the lack of resources available for younger individuals diagnosed with this condition.

Her video quickly went viral, garnering thousands of views and prompting viewers to offer support and share their own stories of cognitive disease diagnoses.

Following the outpouring of support, Rebecca posted a thank-you video, where she addressed the most frequently asked question about the specific signs or symptoms she had that led to her diagnosis.

"And you know, at first I just thought I had brain fog, no big deal. I'm almost 50, so that's fairly normal in perimenopause and stress, and blah blah," she said.

However, she soon started experience moments where her mind would suddenly go blank during a conversation, causing her to struggle with getting words out.

"But sometimes I would be in a sentence and I can't actually finish the sentence, because I have no idea what I'm talking about.

As she went quiet to think for a bit, she started laughing to herself and explained: "Even this, the processing of my brain is very strange. You know, if I had like a disagreement recently with my partner and we would talk about it the next day, I would have no idea what we were talking about.

"And at first I would pretend I knew what they were talking about, but then I had to admit that I had no idea - it's kind of convenient just by the way," she added with a laugh.

"Yeah, so that's, that was concerning," she continued. "Yeah, my speech is like a little bit, I wanna say stutter but it's not, it's just word finding, I guess."

She further explained one of the most frightening symptoms was when she couldn't remember where she was going or even where she lived.

"Yeah, and some weird things like I've been going to the same therapist for ten years, and like driving there and being like 'How do I get there?', again, even though I doing it for ten years. And I do know that like losing yourself is a big sign of Early Onset," she shared.

She continued: "And I recall like shopping recently. I had a cart full of stuff from like Homesense or something and all of the sudden I was like 'what am I shopping for?' Like I had actually no idea what house I lived in, and so I had to like stop and close my eyes and like fully concentrate on like 'why am I here? Why do I have all this stuff in this cart and what is it for? For like what house?' Yeah, that was really scary."

She also noted that unexpected noises from outside that she couldn't see also acted as a trigger for her.

"And then some weird things, like I'll have my eyes closed and I would hear like an outside noise, like traffic or something, and my brain would be like 'Where do you live? Where are you?'," she said. "So I think I'm fine, I'm totally fine unless I don't know where I am and then if I don't know where I am, then I'm like 'well maybe something's wrong'."

She added that she's trying to use humour to lighten her mood about her health situation.

"Yeah, so stuff like that," she said. "A lot of the stuff I just, like I said earlier, I just wanted to chalk it up to being stressed and peri-menopausal and hormonal, blah blah blah. ".

The NHS has outlined early signs of Alzheimer's disease, which include forgetting recent conversations or events, misplacing items, struggling to recall names of people and places, difficulty finding the right word, repeating questions, increased difficulty in decision-making, and a newfound hesitance in trying new things.

If you're concerned about your memory or suspect you may have dementia, it's advised to book an appointment with your GP. Similarly, if you're worried a loved one may be showing signs of dementia, encourage them to see their GP and offer to accompany them.