“The woman who marks her own memory”

Subjective memory complaints in a high-functioning patient — lapses noticed and vividly recalled by the patient, invisible to others, under heavy load — point away from dementia, whose signature is the reverse (others notice, the patient doesn’t recall). But reassurance-without-assessment fails this patient: offer the real baseline test, bloods, and a dated repeat, while treating the reversible load (sleep restriction, nightly alcohol, vasomotor symptoms post-HRT). Familial risk is answered with honest numbers, not deflection. The hidden agenda is double — six years of secret self-testing born of an unbelieved mother, and the employment terror — both must be found, honoured and answered precisely.