Anosognosia
Anosognosia is a condition where your brain can’t recognize one or more other health conditions you have.
LINK: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22832-anosognosiaSIDE-COMMENT: I really have a hard time differentiating "Anosognosia" from not being synonymous with "asymptomatic" as in people who walk around sick not knowing it or not feeling it with something like covid.. seems almost the same to me but I guess it is referring to a mental state that can't know something rather than referring to 'invisible' symptoms they can't feel...
Anyway,
I speculate whether there are certain levels of
Anosognosia that are inherent in most people that serve to protect the herd/community peer pressure mentality rather than to serve the individual’s needs.. to me there is something in most people that blocks out the memory of how bad it really was getting ill.. some mechanism in the brain that takes away the natural fear of illness that comes in the form of amnesia or denial so that people don’t protect themselves from the illness they just recuperated from and jump right back into society to participate maskless and fearless in the face of a pandemic.
I just have this theory that most people have a sort of “illness amnesia” which serves to protect the herd because a person right after having recovered from some infectious disease is usually more than willing to risk another one and immediately gets back on the horse ready for battle so to speak ready to serve their community with no regards for their own safety..and unafraid of the true risks of what just a few days ago put them in the hospital. It’s just not logical to not be afraid of people once they give you disease but that’s exactly how most of us behave.. but why is there no fear or aversion to people after all that pain and suffering? All I can think is something blocks out the memory so that people are unafraid of their herd. It’s not totally unlike an abuse victim in domestic violence that goes back for more.
How many people have you heard catch something like covid and say "I thought I was going to die"!? So why don't we see trauma from someone who came that close to death in illness compared to the trauma of say for example a war veteran that gets hurt or sees others in peril? The peril between being severely ill discharging body fluids and such seems just as close to death as one who is almost killed in other ways. So why don't we often see symptoms of trauma and fear in a person that almost dies from an agonizing high fever from an contagious infection when they re-enter the population? Shouldn't they be scared for their lives?
I am always amazed at those who almost die or suffer tremendously are willing to take the same exact risks and repeat the experience as if they don’t remember their last illness/experience whatsoever.. you know we have all met people who have undergone cancer treatment and survived cancer who will light up a cigarette and continue to smoke.
…Unsure how widespread Anosognosia really is and if it goes deeper than the article suggests.
Maybe I am thinking about…
An Illustrated History of Science Denial
SUMMARY:In an age where instant communication can immediately spread misinformation, the consequences of scientific denialism are more serious than ever.
LINK:https://www.nyas.org/ideas-insights/blog/an-illustrated-history-of-science-denial/Allow me to elaborate on my personal experience in regards to my little “illness amnesia theory”
… I know I wear mask because I love myself the way I am and want to protect myself. I know I had asthma/allergies as a child, I know my grandfather caught malaria in WW2 and suffered long term repercussions from having caught the malaria and then when covid came along in 2020 I believe all these experiences served as a reason for my public masking to prevent airborne illness and airborne disease in me.
In 2020 It’s as if I decided not to block out my experience with asthma as a child and didnt want to risk catching covid or it’s long term repercussions that I thought might come with it and so I think my reasons for masking are based on that remembered experience I had with respiratory difficulties as a child combined with the real threat of covid, overpopulation, climate change , mass transportation and the possibilities the pandemic challenges are far from over, plus a combination of real memories I chose to indulge in such as I hate suffering and being sick and even little things reinforced my precautionary behavior such as things my grandfather told me about his experience with repercussions from malaria.
I must add I base my decision to take precautionary measures such as masking based on data on viruses and the condition of humankind across the world .. I study patterns that evolve such as from Data Report Info which substantiates my gut instincts and personal viewpoints about what is occurring in our environment and to people and animals with microscopic entities. While I chose initially to mask for myself because I believe in protecting myself I also think myself a scientist and back up my reasoning for masking based on science and based on my evidence that microscopic entities are at play and these microscopic entities and particles very powerful and not to be breathed in by this particular mortal.
Then of course my behavior was totally rewarded so I continued my masking and precautions because overtime I enjoyed not getting any airborne illnesses ever since I started masking in 2020.. so masking for me proved a rewarding experience and benefited my health. At same time I mask for the future, for my visions of what is to come as well as I base my decisions on experience. I initially promised myself I’d wait for 6 months after covid was totally eradicated before I considered not masking But that never happened and then I continued to reap the rewards of masking and not catching any airborne illnesses. The experience of masking for covid simply reinforced my masking precautions to prevent all sorts of airborne illnesses and diseases as well as harmful particles from occupational hazards. so even though I worried about long covid from the start and begin wearing the mask to avoid catching covid and giving it to my loved one I now appreciate and reap tons of benefits to mask happily. Manifold are the health benefits and the powers one is endowed upon when they utilize the mask and adopt a masked way of living.
I now mask for my health and it’s simply good for me and I don’t base my masking in whether covid becomes eradicated or not because avian flu , whooping cough and more airborne illness and challenges with disease simply entered the arena. I mask now just based now on the fact it protects me , it doesn’t wane and there aren’t any side affects from me wearing it.. it is a tool for me now so I am spoiled by its powers having not been caught by a single airborne illness in 6 years straight and counting.
Maybe I don’t block out or have any level of what I should term “illness amnesia” from having had respiratory problems as a child and my experience combined with what I foresee is currently happening and the risks of the future besides the safety health benefits I experience led me to lead a masked way of life.
I certainly don’t have any of the higher forms of Anosognosia or denial when it comes to precautions like masking and preventing airborne illness and airborne disease!
It’s really nothing to make light of Keep in mind Anosognosia may play a huge role with covid and long covid victims all this being tied with brain fog and onset dementia.
Long covid & Anosognosia might be more intertwined than we first suspect, so I feel justified in talking about masking and preventing long covid in this discussion about Anosognosia. Masking could actually prevent long covid and the Anosognosia associated with long covid repercussions.
Now of course I wonder if there is such a thing as antiprecautionosis a condition where your brain can’t recognize the danger of not taking precautions such as masking in face of dangerous illness and disease. Funny but true it seems equally baffling to me why people simply don’t take more precautions such as masking after catching something they say made them feel like they were close to death. The rate of people that said they felt like they were going to die doesn’t come near to matching the rate of people who actually learn from the experience to actually defend themselves from it happening again.
It’s almost as if the average person is so exhilarated and feels so good when they get better from a contagious illness that no matter how bad they felt or how much they wondered if they would die that they completely forget the possibility of it ever happening even possibly in the next flu season or so. It’s as if they completely forget how bad it really was. If questioned while they were sick if they wished they had taken precautions to avoid being in the wretched state they are now, most people would agree they wished they had taken precautions such is their misery
Illness is akin to torture or imprisonment I suppose people will promise to do anything make any deal even pray to the Heavens to get better and stay better yet once they are well they often forget their promises to themselves such as: “ thank you God I made it alive! & I will never catch covid again .. I thought I was going to die…and I will mask .. never do I want to experience that ever again no matter what!” But instead It seems like once the illness is over most people resume normally as if nothing traumatic ever even happened.. that’s just the way it seems to me. Most people don’t alter or modify their behavior after having claimed to suffer immensely as they obviously did. They have what I call
antiprecautionosis a condition where their brain can’t recognize the danger of not taking precautions such as masking in face of dangerous illness and disease.
Let me give you something to ponder upon.. I’ve been in a couple floods .. now when it rains heavy I tend to pace around the house go over a few strategic things in my head then I go to bed.. all this is not trauma.. it is preparation for flooding that may actually occur again .. I strategize.. got my fresh water supply and my flashlight in place and prepare for no electricity.. then my body goes into sleep so that it can wake up strong to deal with the flood. So where is that response in people who survive contagious diseases that make them fear for their lives such as surviving covid? Where are their healthy defense measures/mechanisms?.. are they still sick? When you nudge a snake with a stick does not the healthy ones either coil up to defend or else strike? Why are most victims of contagious illness so unresponsive when poked with a threat of a repeat experience or in the face of a similar contagious illness considering they were in so much peril and suffering… why don’t they display string coping reactions & strategize & defend themselves after such an attack of illness?
P.S. By the way My Side-Comment is just that: something on the side to ponder...my Sid comment pertains mostly about behavior of people as they get well, science denial, and explores a personal theory I have about people ignoring or having some sort of "illness amnesia".
For those interested in Anosognosia in particular I suggest they research the subject more online as my side comment doesn't address anything formally understood about Anosognosia...
"Anosognosia is a neurological condition where a person literally cannot recognize their own impairment (like dementia or severe mental illness) due to brain changes, while denial is a psychological defense mechanism where someone knows something is wrong but refuses to accept it due to emotional distress, with denial potentially resolving while anosognosia persists".
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