Mrs Boys cares for her husband Ray, who first displayed symptoms of the disease three years ago.

Mr Boys is one of 66,000 Victorians with dementia. According to an Alzheimer's Australia-commissioned report by Access Economics, that number is set to grow to 98,000 by 2020.

The report says Brimbank, which now has 1633 people experiencing dementia, could have 7356 by 2050 - a 350per cent increase.

The city is expected to go from being the 14th-most-affected municipality to the fourth.

"I first noticed it after he was blaming other people for what was happening," Mrs Boys said of her husband. "He used to get very frustrated easily. Things went from bad to worse when he was driving; he would cut people off and then blame them for it."

In the lead-up to Dementia Awareness Week (September 16-26), Ms Boys is urging people who may have noticed signs of dementia to seek help.

"The back-up is there. People shouldn't be scared to get help because it breaks them down if they don't," she said. "I would advise anybody to not feel ashamed or feel there's no help out there."

Mrs Boys credits Alzheimer's Australia for helping ease the burden by providing support and information.

"You need strategies, not justification, which I learned from going to workshops," Mrs Boys said.

"I have been taught strategies on how to say things in a different way so they [Ray] can understand it."

There are many different forms dementia can take. Mrs Boys says her husband has frontal lobe dementia.

"What that means is I now have a six-year-old instead of an 83-year old."

She said one of the more difficult aspects of dealing with the condition was that he seemed to be ageing backwards. "The body is still the same, but you lose the persona by diminishing age."

Mrs Boys described the experience as being like living in a maze.

"All the things that are normal to us he gets very frustrated about, because he doesn't understand them," she said.

She emphasised the importance of improving that understanding by seeking medical advice and using the right medication.

"With that in place, we can enjoy life without being upset or aggressive."