I love words. I love to find out their roots, where they come from. The "Increase Your Word Power" part of the Reader's Digest has been my favorite since I was a little girl.
I just found out about the word "Anosognosia" a couple of days ago. "nosos" means disease, "gnosis" means knowledge. The "A" in front of the word is a negative prefix, so the word (A)nosognosia could be broken into "no disease knowledge."
Basically, Anosognosia is the inability to recognize one's own illness. From my reading, this is fairly common with people who are dealing with brain issues. It's not denial. Some people are just not able to recognize they have a problem. Period.
It helps me to know this. I can't expect Mom to know there is something wrong and can't expect her to understand why I react to her the way I do. So, it will be better to try to change the way I react. While my head knows Mom can't help wanting to buy Egg Beaters every day,(even though we have a case in the refrigerator) my heart wants her to remember!
Some people know they have a problem, some will never know. I'm not sure which ones are better off.
2 comments:
This - anosognosia - is one of the most interesting parts of the disease process to me.
My Mom will watch TV, and when ads for Alz medications come on, she will point to the TV, shake her head, and say "Oh, those poor, poor people".
OK.
BTW - Totally a HUGE fan of RD. When I was a college student, and broke, I couldn't afford to buy it, but a thrift store nearby sold back copies of magazines. At $.25 a copy, I felt "rich" every time I went shopping there!
I added you to my list as well. The egg beater comment was too funny. My mother is obsessed with them as well...
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