My Father-in-Law has just been diagnosed in his late 50's.

He's been getting slow, confused and forgetful for a long time but we put it down to overwork to be honest. Now the doctor has confirmed our niggling suspicion that he has early signs of dementia.

Any advice? He has been going alone to his appointments and either forgetting what he's been told or just keeping it to himself. He is basically convinced that it's as good as a death sentence and my only expernence of it in the family was precisely that - diagnosis then a short decline and then the end.

We're all very upset and confused and not sure what to do. We're meeting with his doctor (apparently) in the next few weeks.