Posted by jane d on March 28, 2002, at 16:47:34
In reply to Body Parts as Strangers » Ritch, posted by IsoM on March 23, 2002, at 23:59:57
> That reminds me of a man I read about who had a stroke that affecting recognising one side of his body. He had far more trouble realising that one leg of his actually belonged to him. The nurses would sometimes find him on the floor in the middle of the night & when questioned, he said he'd found someone else's leg in his bed & tried to throw it out & always wound up on the floor. It sounds funny to hear it but really very sad.
>
> Another woman with something similar would always carefully apply her make-up & style her hair but only on one side. Her lipstick would be applied only to the one side of her lips & end abruptly. I think it sounds horrible.IsoM,
Both of those stories were included in a book I just finished reading, Phantoms In the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran & Sandra Blakeslee. The book uses examples of the different effects strokes have depending on what side and what area of the brain is damaged to demonstrate the interactions and feedbacks between different areas. The book describes how damage to one area on one side of the brain causes people to be unaware that they have been paralized but damage on the other side doesn't. And how putting ice water in the opposite ear temporarily makes these people aware of what happened. It's a very interesting book and very readable too.
Jane
poster:jane d
thread:20690
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020325/msgs/21144.html