Receiving a diagnosis of dementia brings many questions and many emotions. Whether you were expecting the diagnosis or not, it’s a very difficult thing to hear. People living with dementia describe a mix of emotions from despair and feeling that life has ‘just ended’, to a sense of relief there is an explanation for the changes they’ve noticed. There is no right or wrong way to feel, but it’s important to know a diagnosis is a beginning, not an end. It is the first step in moving forward with dementia.
Now you have a name for the disease, and an explanation for your symptoms, you can learn more about dementia. Knowing more about dementia means you know what to expect and what you can do.
Many people with dementia live full and meaningful lives after their diagnosis. People living with dementia have shared their good and bad experiences and this forms the basis of this website. These stories, challenges and strategies from people with dementia combined with up-to-date research, will help you choose your own path forward with dementia.
People with dementia found the following actions helped them in their first year after diagnosis. You don’t have to take all these actions and there is no correct order.
- Understanding the diagnosis: helps you to make sense of what you are going through.
- Coming to terms with dementia: feelings about having a diagnosis of dementia sometimes get in the way of adjusting to dementia.
- Managing changes: there are strategies and treatments which can help with the symptoms that are interfering with your life.
- Supporting wellbeing: life doesn’t stop because you have dementia. An active and social lifestyle may improve brain health.
- Making plans and decisions: plan for now and the future and know what supports and services can help.
Each of these actions is a section on this website. You can work though the articles in each section in order or click on a section that is most relevant to your situation now.
