Awareness of dementia

Barbie300 · September 4

My husband was diagnosed with MCI about 7 years ago. At that time he told me I was going to have to start taking over some things such as bill paying, but he didn’t seem to be well educated about what the end result of his diagnosis is. I didn’t push for him to read up on it because I didn’t want him to get depressed. Now he seems totally unaware that there is anything wrong with him even though he has become progressively worse. He worked in IT and occasionally we will be talking to someone about their computer problems and he will say he will be glad to take a look at it and maybe fix the problem. I don’t know what to say because he can’t do anything on his own computer, let alone fix someone else’s. He also hallucinates and thinks he has fixed something when he hasn’t done one thing to fix it. Do most people with dementia become unaware that there is anything wrong with them?

Vitruvius · September 4

It’s called anosognosia, a lack of insight into one's own dementia. It is said that about 80% of PWD have anosognosia. Many of the threads on this forum deal with this issue. When my DW was being tested by a major university dementia clinic, she scored only 8 out of 30 on the MOCA test and was clearly very well into Stage 5. Yet when the neurologist asked my DW whether she thought her cognition was better at the time of her testing or 5 years prior, my DW didn’t hesitate to answer that she thought her cognition was much better when the question was asked than 5 years prior. (I thought it was a strange question actually.)

So in answer to your question, your DH’s thinking he is perfectly normal is absolutely consistent with dementia progression.

l7pla1w2 · September 5

I have a similar story. DW is now in a MCF, yet doesn't think she has a problem. She wants to feel useful She is a retired university professor. She thinks faculty and students might come to her for help, which is ironic, because she doesn't remember where she taught or what her field was.

Lgb35 · September 6

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/252707#Comment_252707

how are things going with your DW?

H1235 · September 6

The anosognosia is awful. The problem gets really bad when what your lo wants to do (or thinks they can do) is not safe for them. Things like going up and down stairs when there are balance problems, frying bacon with short term memory problems, wanting to mow the lawn when they use a walker, driving… Stopping them from doing these things causes them to be upset and angry. Someone said they had cards made that explained that their loved one had dementia. When put in a difficult situation they would hand out the card to explain the situation without saying it out loud and upsetting their loved one.

Awareness of dementia

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