Symptom which is kind of crazy

[taniaaust1]

Right now Im having more then trouble with normal facial recognition.. with that if someone tells me who im looking at, I do then know them.. or I know I know them but just cant remember who it is till told.

Right now.. Im kind of feeling like Im going nuts as my sister just sent me a photo of her children who I know well.. but with one, the child thou the same age I remember my niece as being.. well its a different kid entirely to what I remember my niece looks like.

This is freaking me out as I only saw my niece at a birthday party last time only 3 weeks back and my sister due to her chemical sensitivity etc (she dont use chemicals), no way would she blench my 3 year old neices hair..the kid in the photo has white hair my niece has mousy coloured hair.
(maybe my sister has sent me a photo with a different child in the picture with my nephew, but the photos is labeled with my niece meant to be in it too).

Feeling very very unsettled at this whole thing now and my family members appearing entirely different to me. Have I finally gone nuts?

 

[Enid]

Absolutely not Tania - fact that you are writng shows it too. Cognative processing slowed to such a degree with me that I could not recall my own name when asked once (it reappeared 10 mins later though). Recognitions also disappeared (couldn't understand a plug in a sink once). Don't panic - take as much rest as poss mentally and physically - do you see a Doc familiar with ME and is he/she treating body symptoms (infections etc). It's a tough time but all restored as health improves. My own memory is now even better than those I failed to recognise once.

I hope things get easier for you very soon.

 

[Ocean]

There is a name for this condition. I think the neuro. dr Oliver Sacks has it, the inability to recognize faces. If you look it up you will probably find the name. That may help you see someone about it? Good luck. I feel for you, it sounds like a really unsettling condition. For me, when I had trouble remembering names in the past, it was very unsettling so I can only imagine how difficult this would be.

 

[anciendaze]

The name you are looking for is agnosia. It can get mixed up with another neurological problem, aphasia, the ability to come up with the right word. You may have the ability to recognize a face, but fail to connect it to a name. Both agnosia and aphasia tend to come and go along with cognitive deficits like dyscalculia. The difference in this case is that these deficits tend to be limited and reversible.

All three tend to be complex mental tasks which people with ME/CFS have trouble doing. These are different from the massive damage associated with traumatic brain injury. They are often associated with a decline in performance IQ, which may not be reflected in recall of things learned before onset. This is not a fundamental permanent limitation, it is a specific impairment. It is one of the sources of social phobia in victims. They are afraid of doing something embarrassing like not recognizing an old friend.

These specific deficits can strike anyone afflicted with this illness. In my own case, advanced degrees using mathematics were no defense against dyscalculia. After the worst episode of my life I had to relearn arithmetic. I've found this is not a unique experience.

 

[taniaaust1]

There is a name for this condition. I think the neuro. dr Oliver Sacks has it, the inability to recognize faces. If you look it up you will probably find the name. That may help you see someone about it? Good luck. I feel for you, it sounds like a really unsettling condition. For me, when I had trouble remembering names in the past, it was very unsettling so I can only imagine how difficult this would be.

Yeah.. I know about that, its called prosopagnosia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia and I have had that with the ME but this was different to how I get that as in my brain I remembered the child looking different and knew (well believed I knew) in my head exactly what she looked like and hence would of been able to recognise her if she appeared how my brain was recalling
............

Im better today (as far as being able know what my family looks like)... Obviously Im getting a lot of mental confusion of late and hence my brain is mixing up its memories. I can see her in that photo today and know my memories from the other day werent right and that she's is actually a very fair blonde and not mousey brain haired (severe brain confusion must of caused my issue).

Brain wise.. thou it dont show in my posts but Ive degenerated again. Tonight.. I had a nightmare time just cooking myself one piece of meat for dinner (I didnt have the energy to do anything with that). It took me THREE attempts and nearly a full hour just to put a piece of steak on the stove and cook it.
I not once..but twice I put on the wrong element and then it took me ages to figure out the issue of why it wasnt cooking so three tries at it before I got just some fried meat.

 

[svetoslav80]

Well ask your sister if that's your niece.

P.S. I often forgot other's names since sick, once even forgot my uncle's name. I had to start remembering names from A to Z and it eventually came back after 10 minutes of thinking. Good that this didn't put me in an unconfortable situation then.

 

[taniaaust1]

The name you are looking for is agnosia. It can get mixed up with another neurological problem, aphasia, the ability to come up with the right word. You may have the ability to recognize a face, but fail to connect it to a name. Both agnosia and aphasia tend to come and go along with cognitive deficits like dyscalculia. The difference in this case is that these deficits tend to be limited and reversible.

All three tend to be complex mental tasks which people with ME/CFS have trouble doing. These are different from the massive damage associated with traumatic brain injury. They are often associated with a decline in performance IQ, which may not be reflected in recall of things learned before onset. This is not a fundamental permanent limitation, it is a specific impairment. It is one of the sources of social phobia in victims. They are afraid of doing something embarrassing like not recognizing an old friend.

These specific deficits can strike anyone afflicted with this illness. In my own case, advanced degrees using mathematics were no defense against dyscalculia. After the worst episode of my life I had to relearn arithmetic. I've found this is not a unique experience.

I have had those things too .. yes they are common in ME. Interesting link at wikipedia on agnosia and the different sorts of it, thank's for sharing that.