Does the unawareness of deficits ever change?

BookBuffBex

Mom (84) diagnosed with Alzheimer's a year ago. My best guess is she is somewhere between stages 5 and 6 on the DBAT scale. I recognize now that she has been completely unaware of her deficits for at least 2-3 years. Does the anosognosia ever end? Will she move beyond it; or am I stuck with this person who insists that she is managing her ADL's? TIA

M1

Probably stuck with it. I've been dealing with it for ten years.... My partner is also stage 5-6.

Emily 123

I agree with M1. My mom sometimes knows she has fuzzy memory, or needs more support than she used to, but not very often.

MN Chickadee

No, it does not end. However their status does change in other ways. The worst of anosognosia is when they are ambulatory, talkative, able to find trouble and are somewhat aware of what we are doing around them. This leads to behavioral issues, suspicion, anxiety, and/or trying to do things they phsycially can't do or are dangerous. I found stage 5 to be the hardest and busiest. Later into stage 6 my mother lost more skills, and then it wasn't so hard to deal with the fact that she didn't know she had a problem. She couldn't get up and make mischief on her own, didn't have the wherewithal to question what we were doing or why. It was more like getting a one year old to bathe than an ornery teenager, less resistance. Sad as that progression is as they retreat into their own world, it did make life easier in some ways.

mommyandme (m&m)

It didn’t leave for us… only sometimes she’d apologize for whatever…which was heartbreaking. Maybe she’d realize it was a lot for her caregiver (me), still so heartbreaking.