Hello All, today we are going to be looking at The Cause Of Memory Loss. Why do we forget? and what kinds of things can we do to improve our ability to remember.
Most of us tend to start to forget things as we get older but some of us manage to maintain recognition amazingly well. It is no surprise that many of us would like to unlock this secret. How we can prevent memory loss?
Now, there are two different types of memory loss. Short term and long term.
Short term memory loss is when we temporarily forget things, and long term memory loss is a bit more permanent. Kind of like what happens with Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
But what causes this to happen?
That is what we are going to be looking into for today’s post.
How we can identify these triggers and what can do to prevent this unfortunate condition from happening to us. Not only this but what can we do to reverse the damage that has already begun to affect our memory function?
Let’s dive In.
What Is The Cause Of Memory Loss? Explained!
Common Memory Loss Causes
Most of us will suffer from some kind of memory loss every so often. It could be we forget something before we go out like our phone or wallet/purse. It may not be too serious most of the time. It could just be we are in a rush or under pressure to hurry along but generally speaking there are a few common causes for memory loss.
1# – Sleep Deprivation can have a profound effect. Not getting enough sleep will make you feel very fatigued and this in turn can make it more difficult to remember things.
2# – Stress and Depression, if you feel stressed, depressed and anxious you will find it difficult to concentrate and pay attention. When you feel this kind of tension the memory suffers and can go blank.
3# – Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco: Firstly, Alcohol has been known since people began drinking it to have a detrimental effect on your memory.
Also, when you smoke you are reducing the amount of oxygen that reaches the brain which can affect memory function.
Medications, There are a number of prescription and over the counter medications that can interfere with or cause loss of memory.
Possible ones may include
- antihistamines,
- antidepressants,
- anti-anxiety medications,
- sleeping pills,
- muscle relaxants,
- tranquillizers,
- and pain relief medications.
Any substance in fact that can interfere with our natural body functions can all affect how our brain works and this includes being able to remember things.
4# – Being Deficient in Vitamins and Minerals: For our brain to function properly certain nutrients are needed to create things like amino acids and enzymes. For this reason, it can actually transpire that suffering from vitamin and mineral deficiencies can affect memory function.
5# – Having a Stroke: when a stroke occurs it usually only affects one side of the brain and is caused by a blocked blood vessel in the brain that starts to leak. The after-effects of a stroke can leave you being able to remember things from years ago but in turn, you might very well struggle to remember about things that have happened more recently.
6# – Head Injuries, when you receive a serious blow to your head, it can damage your brain. This can cause both short and long term memory loss. With this type of injury, it is possible for the memory to come back over time.
7# – Transient global amnesia is a short-term type of memory loss. It, generally goes all on its own and doesn’t cause any harm or necessarily occur again. Doctors are not sure why this happens. Sometimes, it can occur with mini strokes, which can be seen in the hippocampus (the area of the brain associated with memory formation).
More Serious Memory Loss Causes
1# – Thyroid Imbalance, If you have an overactive Thyroid, which means the thyroid gland produces too much thyroxin. When this happens your metabolism speeds up and you lose weight rapidly. You probably think this is great if you are trying to lose weight Right? Wrong it is a terrible thing to happen to you. It affects you in so many other ways that are definitely not desirable.
I suffered from Hyperthyroidism more than 20 years ago, I went from weighing 9 stone (126 Llb) down to 6 stone (84 Llb) the rapid weight loss gave me other serious consequences. You can find out more here.
With Hyperthyroidism, you can suffer from short term memory loss, when speaking to people you can forget their name, what you were going to say next as well as forgetting where you have put things.
2# – Dementia, Is the name given to the progressive loss of memory and other aspects of thinking that are considered bad enough to interfere with the ability for you to do things in your normal daily life.
Dementia, is caused by damage to the hippocampus, which is a part of the brain.
Although there are thought to be many causes of dementia — including blood vessel disease, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, as well as other causes of damage to the brain — the most common and familiar is Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by a progressive loss of brain cells and other irregularities of the brain.
3# – Alzheimer’s Disease, when you are suffering from Alzheimer’s your short-term memory is usually what goes and your long-term memory is retained. Alzheimer’s doesn’t only affect the memory it can also affect your speech, behavior, moods, and hygiene.
4# – Syphilis, There are 3 stages and it is the third stage that can damage your brain. Which can then lead to memory issues and dementia.
5# – Brain Tumor, if the tumor is located in the front temporal lobe it can cause memory loss. Read my post about Brain Tumors here
When To Visit The Doctor
In your day to day life if you find you are forever forgetting things, then you should schedule an appointment with your GP or Doctor.
In most cases the medical practitioner will be able to diagnose and treat you.
To begin with, he or she will ask about your family history as well as your medical history. Then you may undergo a physical examination as well as a mental ability test. This ability test may include simple Maths equations as well as repeating certain sentences.
Depending on the results of the examination and mental ability tests, you may have to have blood tests for deficiency in nutrients and vitamins as well as urine tests, nerve tests, and imaging tests of the brain such as a CAT scan or an MRI.
It may also be necessary to have deficiency testing, which includes a lot of tests that help to point out the source of the memory loss.
A referral to a psychologist, psychiatrist, or another kind of counsellor may be necessary to help you to cope with the effects of your memory loss.
The sooner this is done the better it will be for you.
Treatments For Memory Loss
There are many causes of memory loss. Therefore the treatment depends much on what is causing it. In a lot of cases, it may be possible to reverse the effects. In the case of, memory loss from certain medications, you could be prescribed a different one where that memory loss is not a possible side effect.
Nutritional supplements are another useful thing to take against memory loss caused by a nutritional deficiency. The treatment of depression may also be helpful for memory loss when depression is a contributing factor.
Curcumin for example, the most active compound found in Turmeric is said to have a positive effect on Alzheimer patients.
In other cases, such as after having a stroke, therapy may be used to help you to remember how to do certain things such as walking. Whilst, In others, memory can improve over time.
Treatments can also be specific to conditions related to memory loss. As, drugs that are available to treat memory issues related to Alzheimer’s disease, and other drugs that help to lower your blood pressure can also help to reduce the risk of more brain damage from dementia related to high blood pressure.
It may also be necessary to have surgery if you have a brain tumor. This can cause temporary memory loss after the procedure because of the swelling that can occur on the brain. Although if the surgery is successful this should be something you can recover from.
My Final Thoughts
Memory loss is a part of getting older. Short term memory loss should not impact your day to day life.
Long term memory loss can make you feel very fearful, especially when you don’t know the cause and the treatments available. Some treatments can cause you to have severe side effects and those will be measured against any benefits before anything is prescribed to you.
There are always natural alternatives out there that you can take, with far less side effects.
There are also things you can do at home to help memory loss. Regular exercise, a healthy diet, learning new things, and a healthy sleep schedule have all been shown to help reduce memory loss.
If you start to notice any problems with your memory, make sure to speak to Your doctor.
I wish to thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read this article. If, you have a question or you wish to leave a comment, then please feel free to leave it below. I love to hear from you all and I will reply back to you.
If, you know anyone else who would benefit from reading this then please feel free to share it.
Take great care of yourself because you are worth it.
Alex C
DynamicIdeas4life.com
~Originally published by Lisa Harvey for HealthyMindHealthyPeople.com
Attention: Please speak to a doctor before taking supplements of any kind. Everyone is different and what works well for one may not necessarily work for another. Many supplements are available for brain health but many come with side effects.
Information Source
#1 https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/overactive-thyroid-hyperthyroidism#1
#2 https://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/ss/slideshow-alzheimers-overview
About Author
Memory loss, I have been told, can happen to anyone at all. It all depends on what is going on and what led to it happening. Though I have not been in the medical line but the information you shared here is very good. Though mine is not a serious case but I noticed I couldn’t remember anything till I was age 8. So I decided to research a little more before visiting a doctor. Thanks for the info here
Research is recommended as well as visiting the doctor.
Thank you for commenting and reading.
Lisa
I always emphasize the need to always visit the doctor for examining from time to time and this is because many times, we tend to be sick in the body without us knowing or realizing it. Memory loss affects a lot of people and it’s very thoughtful of you to share about it, this will help people to learn about this health condition.
Hey,
First of all thank you for reading and commenting.
You are correct memory loss does affect a lot of people.
The statistics are quite frightening.
Lisa.
Thank you so much for sharing a health article with us. The main content of Airtel is the causes of memory loss and its treatment. Basically, they are older like most of my dad’s older people have this problem. My dad can’t remember a lot because of memory loss or can’t create the right situation to remember at the right time. The main reason for this is his insomnia problem and later we take the advice of the doctor. To prevent this memory loss, I gave my father a nutrition supplement as advised by the doctor.
Insomnia is a problem for many people and it does affect your memory.
I have a few friends who suffer in this way, they are taking supplements
and things have improved for them.
Thank you for reading and leaving a comment.
Lisa.
Seeing the things that could cause memory loss makes me really wary and now I feel like seeing the doctor and this has been really educational article for me. I have to to say there are many things that can come up to affect us and lots of us will not be aware of these things. I will share with others
Hello,
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment.
Feel free to share away.
Lisa
Lately, I have been having some serious issue with memory loss happening to me but I have not been able to deal with it So i felt it would be good to find out the cause of the loss of memory and I think for me, it might be lack of proper sleep and the amount of stress I put myself through because I work too hard sometimes. I’ll make sure I take a supplement and try to get more sleep too.
Hi Jackie,
I appreciate you reading and commenting on this post.
i love hearing from my readers.
Memory loss can be a very serious issue, it’s great that you
have learned something from the post.
Lisa.
Memory loss due to stress is no Joke. I actually experienced it during a period of stress and sleep deprivation many years ago. It affected all what you say here: your focus, concentration, speech and behaviour. I ended up getting acute muscle blocks. Luckily some rest and good routines helped me out.
Hello Hilde,
It’s great to see you visiting again.
As you have stated, Stress is of a major concern,
it has such a profound effect on everything. Especially
our memory.
Thanks for stopping by.
Lisa.
What an interesting article! I’ve dealt with memory issues with my Grandma who had Alzheimers and some slight issues with my Dad after his stroke. Thankfully, his were minimal but my poor Grandma developed very serious dementia.
I’ve noticed that sometimes dehydration can affect memory, too. We are in Florida and it’s important to drink enough water (or consume enough watery fruit and vegetables) to stay hydrated for health issues, but it also seems to affect a person’s memory. I know that sometimes I can tell when others need to slow down, relieve stress, and yes, drink some water.
Thanks for sharing such detailed information. May I link to your article from my website, “senior parents”? Of course, I will just link, and not actually copy your site. Please let me know.
Thank you very much Diane, for the very comprehensive reply. Dehydration has lots of dire consequences, Memory loss being one of them.
You can use a link to my website if you wish. I’m honored to be asked.
Lisa.
Thank you Lisa, for this post. I am getting old, I’m in my fifties now and this information is very helpful to me. I have been through a handful of serious experiences, it’s hard not to be anxious. After reading your post I’ll pray more instead. I knew sleep and nutrition are important but I did not know they had such much effect on our memory.
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts Juliet.
I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment.
Lisa.
Hi Lisa,
The topic here is ‘Healthy – Mind – Healthy – People! I am aware of the effects of memory loss; as my ‘, Mum,’ has memory loss problems. My family know about the different types of medications available to treat the symptoms. My Mum is clearly not the same person – I am hoping the disease does not speed up, as my mum is not as bad as some people I have seen, with the same problem. I have to admit- as you article states alcohol – she did love her rum, too much!; added to that, she did lose her partner, this also had an impact on her!. I hope our relationships last as long as possible; as when the rest of her memory goes, so will our speaking relationship.
This article made an impact on me – I am living the experience of having a family member with the effect of memory loss.
Thanks again, Lisa.
Joe 90
Thank you very much Joe.
I’m starting to suffer from memory loss as well.
It is quite a frightening prospect.
Lisa
I was looking at your blog article on memory loss and was surprised to not see you mention that Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of progressive degenerative dementia. Many people think that as soon as an elderly person has memory loss they must have Alzheimer’s, and that may, and often is, an incorrect assumption. Also, too many people equate the two as being the same when Alzheimer’s is a cause while dementia is a condition – just as a headache or a migraine is a condition but one needs to determine the cause in order to prescribe the right treatment. Alas, of course, there is no treatment beyond some level of alleviation of symptoms available for those that are diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s disease.
Thank you very much for reading and commenting.
Lisa.
Short-term memory loss can be prevented is what we learned and are going to practice getting more sleep and eating more healthy vitamins. Vitamins and minerals are what we need and did not know that.
Thyroid problems can cause memory loss this is scary for lots of people.
We forget our keys all the time and lose the remote to the TV this is okay to do sometimes, when it hits long-term memory loss we are going to worry more.
this in-depth article on memory loss is explained well Alex takes this seriously and so should we if we want to try to prevent this.
Cheers,
Mathew&Deloris
Thanks for taking the time to comment Mathew&Deloris
Best regards;
Alex
Hello Alex, it’s sad that we spend many years making memories and if we are not eating the correct types of food we can loose them. People now don’t exercise their memory. How many phone numbers do you know off by heart? Or people’s birthdays even crucial appointments. We live in a world that is providing us with constant stress and bad diet. We need to start learning to look after our diets for our bodies and brains. Maybe this is not a magic formula for everyone but it could be what you are missing out on causing memory loss.
Hi Chris, Thanks for stopping by. Yes, I think personally that it is a bit more than what we eat. Of course, this definitely is something that contributes to this. Poor gut health and excessive toxins can damage cells including brain cells. It is important to eat right to help flush these unwanted toxins away but we should exercise our brains as well to help keep them active.