Someone asked me recently to give them some examples of what I mean by mild cognitive impairment, when I say that I’m “losing” my words. This has been the most recent symptom of a rare autoimmune and neuro-inflammatory disease, called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).
Here are some of the funnier examples, the ones which I can recall, at any rate:
- I called my pharmacy to ask for a “recall” of a prescription, when I meant a “refill”
- At a restaurant with my sister, I asked whether her son had an “intervention” yet, but I wanted to say “interview”
- I’ve used the word “connection” instead of “collection” so many times at home that my husband has stopped correcting me – even though I’d asked him to… if only so I’d know how often I do this!
- The same goes for “automatic”, but I mix that up with 2 different words; “autonomic” and “autonomous”
- Today I called out, at home: “Honey, can you come get a “squirrel” off the wall in the kitchen?!” He ran into the room, trying to figure out how to get a squirrel out of our home. We were both laughing about that one all evening…
The final example I want to share with you is the most striking one that I can give, of what I mean by ‘losing my words’ with MCI. But it wasn’t funny. Not at all. I was at the funeral of the brother of one of my old friends last month.
Each time I tried to say “condolences”, what came out of my mouth was the word “congratulations”. In my mind, I heard “condolences”. I was certain that’s what I’d said. Up until the moment when another old friend told me what I’d said.
As you can probably imagine, I was absolutely horrified. I spent the rest of the service, and the reception afterwards, glued to the side of the friend who’d told me what I’d said. I was afraid to speak to the elderly parents of the deceased, worried that I’d use another inappropriate word.
That’s what I mean, when I say that MCI is affecting my daily life. Hopefully the MCI will go away, or get better, and I’ll be back to my old self again soon!
