The Good Day Bad Day Cycle: Good Days and Bad Days With Dementia

There are four cycles we talk about at Dementia Life. The Diagnostic Cycle. The Exhaustion Cycle. The Grief Cycle. And this one — the one that, in some ways, is the most quietly cruel. The Good Day...

The Dementia Grief Cycle: When Grief Doesn't Start or End Cleanly

We talk about cycles in dementia. The Diagnostic Cycle. The Exhaustion Cycle. The cycle of good days and bad ones. But the one that catches people most off guard — the one that keeps coming back — ...

The Diagnostic Cycle: Getting a Dementia Diagnosis in the UK

Before a dementia diagnosis, there's a period that nobody prepares you for. It doesn't have a name. Nobody documents it in clinical terms. But if you've been through it, you know exactly what it fe...

The Exhaustion Cycle: The Physical Toll of Caring for Someone With Dementia

We talk a lot about cycles in dementia. The diagnostic cycle. The grief cycle. The cycle of good days and bad ones. But there's one that is so prevalent across the world with family carers that I h...

Dementia Carer Burnout and a Sensory Deprivation Tank

Dementia Carer Burnout: I Didn’t Know How Far I’d Drifted When someone you love is diagnosed with dementia, the mental load doesn’t arrive all at once. It builds. A new worry here, a new responsibi...

One Day At a Time

One day at a time. Taking things day by day. Take each day as it comes. Each one of these has the same basic proposition: don’t think about tomorrow. As propositions go, it can be a comforting one....

Dementia Life Expectancy: The Lives Behind The Numbers

Dementia Life Expectancy When my mum was diagnosed with young-onset Alzheimer’s the first thing I did was dive headfirst into some deep rabbit holes of late-night googling. Initially I searched for...

There Are No Expectations When a Friend Has Dementia

  Do you remember your best friend from primary school? What about your other friends from that time, or those you had in your first year in senior school? Or what about who you go see now, with t...

Grieving Someone Who Is Still Alive: The Hidden Grief of Dementia

  Everyday Grief Nobody prepares you for this kind of grief. The grief most of us understand has a beginning and an end. There’s a loss, there’s a funeral, there’s a period of mourning, and then — ...

Connecting With Someone Who Has Dementia: Finding Joy When Memory Fades

  Finding Joy When Memory Fades There’s a quote that I come back to again and again, from a woman called Naomi Feil, who dedicated her life to understanding dementia. Her work is certainly worth a ...

Becoming a Carer for a Parent With Dementia: When Your Role Changes Forever

Changing Roles There’s a moment, and I think most people in our group can pinpoint it, where you realise you’ve stopped being just yourself. You’re not just a son or a daughter or a partner anymore...

What Is Dementia Really Like? The Dark Ages Nobody Talks About

The Dementia Dark Ages I know my mum is hyper aware of what’s happening to her. She’s in a really awkward stage in a dementia diagnosis, that I’m sure most families will go through, where my mum kn...