14 Illnesses That May Alter Your Personality

Personality is all about you. It’s about the way you react, your perception, your emotions. It’s your persona. Although your reactions to things around you evolve and change over the years, there’s no mistake about who you really are.  But some health conditions may impact your personality and make you behave in ways that are not you.

1. Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer impacts your thought process, decision, retention, and rational behaviour.  It may trigger a confused state, while very early in the condition you may be prone to anxiety and anger.  As time goes on, it can lead to more dangerous effect. An amiable considerate person may become unfriendly and dictatorial. Alternatively a person who normally is a serious worrier and agitated fellow may easily become calmer and contented.

2. Dementia with lewy bodies

Clusters of abnormal proteins, called lewy bodies, assemble in the part of the brain that controls memory, mobility and thinking process.  Hence it’s both a mental and physical disability. People suffering from dementia with lewy bodies tend to be emotionless, unconcerned about things around them, particularly exhibiting no interest in leisure activities or other hobbies.

3. Parkinson’s disease

Beginning with mild shakiness in the hand, Parkinson’s soon progress to affect how you speak, sleep, walk, and think.   From the start it can progress to fixation on minute details or unexpected sloppiness. With time, a person becomes forgetful or not as friendly as before. It also gets more difficult to have lucid and coordinated thoughts.

4. Huntington’s Disease

This is an illness inherited at birth, but only obvious from the age of thirties or forties. It destroys brain cells and impacts every part of your life. Symptoms might include going through a difficult time progressing thoughts, or get furious to the point of throwing tantrums and hitting walls, or disregard daily basic hygiene like taking a shower or brushing teeth. And highly likely you’re oblivious to these negative behaviour.

5. Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Your immune system attacks the nerves in your brain and spine in this illness. It can trigger problems which include bladder issues and the inability to walk. A feeling of euphoria is recorded in some cases, where your happiness is abnormal and unrealistic. It can also bring on laughing or crying that seems out of control or not in line with how you really feel.

6. Thyroid Disease

The thyroid makes hormones that regulate how your body works. If there’s too much hormone it can make you short-tempered, restless, with horrible mood changes. If there’s too little, your personality loses steam. There’s the possibility to be forgetful and difficulty thinking properly. If the disease is not treated it can have long term impact on your brain.

7. Brain Tumor

A tumor in your brain’s frontal lobe can impact your personality, memory, emotions and ability to solve problems. As such you become forgetful and disorderly. It can also make your mood go up and down, you become more violent, or paranoid about people’s intentions, for instance believing they are out to hurt you when there’s no such thing.

8. Some Types of Cancer

Cancers in the pituitary gland, which regulates your hormone levels, can affect your personality. In addition, cancers in the cells, adenocarcinoma, which you get in cells that make mucus and other fluids including the breast, colon, lungs, and pancreas, can also work against your normal behaviour.

9. Stroke

If blood flow to a part of the brain gets cut off, the cells are starved of oxygen and begin to die. The impact of the damage will depend on what part of the brain and how long the stroke lasts. Normally it becomes difficult to move parts of the body and can alter personality. For instance you may become impatient quickly, experience chronic mood changes, or be more impulsive than normal.

10. Traumatic brain injury

Changes in personality can be a subtle symptom that occurs over time after a devastating blow to the head. In more severe situations, you may feel like a different person, behaving in ways you wouldn’t have previously.

11. Depression

Depression affects every part of your life; it affects your emotions, thinking process, memory and decision making ability. It alters your perception of the world around you. Women frequently feel guilt-ridden, useless, and miserable, while men feel exhausted, exasperated, and irritated.

12. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

With this illness (OCD) you experience anxiety and entertain feelings and cravings you are unable to stop. For instance, you might wash your face more frequently than normal. You’re inclined to doubt yourself frequently and spend longer time to complete simple tasks. It gets worse when you’re criticised which worsens your anxiety.

13. Bipolar disorder

This illness triggers serious mood swings that are extremely abnormal with little link to diversities of life. When you’re on the upswing, you may get startled easily, speak really fast and take huge risks. When you’re down, you may be anxious, listless, and feel valueless.  At other times it may be a combination of up and down swings. These powerful alterations can disturb your sleep and energy flow, making it difficult to think lucidly.

14. Schizophrenia

This is a serious mental illness that makes you hear voices and see things that are non-existent. You may believe things that have nothing to do with reality.  Initially your friendliness will take a dive. As the illness progress, it becomes more difficult to make sensible conversation and even talking with people becomes hard. Moreso, you may behave out of character, erratic, and irrepressible.

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