NINE REASONS YOU HAVE MEMORY PROBLEMS
9 REASONS FOR MEMORY TROUBLES:
1. Your blood pressure or cholesterol is too high. Or, your blood sugar is high. Memory lapses may be in your blood -- or, more specifically, in your blood sugar. MRI scans of volunteers' brains suggest that high blood sugar might damage parts of the brain that deal with memory.
Protect yourself: If there's a history of high blood sugar or diabetes in your family, have your blood sugar tested regularly. Eat well and stay active -- brisk walks are an effective diabetes preventive.
2. You need more sleep and you are pushing too hard. Our brains seem to rely on sleep to cement new memories. You needn't pull all-nighters to get into trouble: In one study, volunteers who slept six hours nightly for two weeks didn't feel sleep-deprived, yet they performed substantially worse on tests of short-term memory.
Protect yourself: Make adequate rest a priority. If you can't? Micro-naps of six minutes were enough to boost volunteers' short-term performance in one study. Simply falling asleep might be enough to trigger the crucial memory process in the brain, researchers suspect.
3. You snore/sleep apnea. You may have sleep apnea, in which your airway gets blocked during sleep, cutting off oxygen for seconds at a time and starving brain cells. Men are more likely than women to develop apnea. Extra risk factors: being overweight or over 40.
Protect yourself: If you're a loud snorer who feels constantly fatigued, ask your doctor if you should be tested for apnea. You may need to wear a device while sleeping that delivers a constant stream of air to your nostrils through a small hose, preventing the dangerous interruptions in oxygen.
4. You feel sluggish or manic. You may have a thyroid problem. Thyroid hormones control your metabolism, but too much or too little can disrupt the normal chatter between brain cells. An overactive thyroid creates so much static, it's hard for the brain's messages to get through, while a sluggish thyroid slows brain messages to a crawl.
Protect yourself: Talk to a doctor about bothersome symptoms (especially if you're a woman -- you're at higher risk for hypothyroidism). An underperforming thyroid can leave you fatigued; with a hyped-up thyroid, your heart may race and you may feel manic or anxious.
5. You're over 65. It gets harder to absorb vitamin B12 from food as you age, and a serious deficiency can look a lot like Alzheimer's disease when its not.
Up to 20 percent of people over 65 are low in B12. It could also be that you are low in POTASSIUM at any age. Take a potassium pill. Any drug that also acts as a water pill will deplete your potassium levels and leave you feeling out of it and dizzy. If you are on medication TAKE POTASSIUM.
Protect yourself: If you're older and feeling fuzzy, ask your doctor if you should have your B12 level checked; you may need a supplement. Also consider a test if you're a strict vegetarian -- you avoid the top food sources of the vitamin.
6. You're depressed. People with severe depression lose brain cells. And the longer the depression lasts, the more cells are lost in areas critical to memory.
Protect yourself: Early treatment may be key. A 2008 study suggested that people who had longer episodes of depression were less likely to show memory improvement after their mood lifted.
7. You take an allergy drug or a sleeping pill. Many drugs commonly prescribed for things like insomnia, incontinence, allergies, and gastrointestinal cramps also interfere with a crucial brainchemical. If you're elderly, these drugs, called anticholinergics, can cause mental fogginess and forgetfulness.
Protect yourself: If you're over age 65, you're more vulnerable to side effects from diphenhydramine, an anticholinergic used in many over-the-counter sleep aids and allergy drugs. Mental fuzziness after starting these or any meds should prompt a talk with your doctor or pharmacist.
8. You shuffle when you walk. Doctors call it a magnetic gait because your feet seem to stick to the ground. It could signal normal pressure hydrocephalus, in which pockets in the brain swell with too much spinal fluid.
Protect yourself: A shuffle, incontinence, and memory problems are the classic symptoms, but not everyone has all three. Prompt treatment gives you the best chance of memory improvement.
9. You're taking a lot of medications. If you're on five or more drugs (polypharmacy), you're at high risk for problematic interactions. And yes, over-the-counter remedies count.
statin, lopressor, aspirin, water pill....real close on this one.
1. Your blood pressure or cholesterol is too high. Or, your blood sugar is high. Memory lapses may be in your blood -- or, more specifically, in your blood sugar. MRI scans of volunteers' brains suggest that high blood sugar might damage parts of the brain that deal with memory.
Protect yourself: If there's a history of high blood sugar or diabetes in your family, have your blood sugar tested regularly. Eat well and stay active -- brisk walks are an effective diabetes preventive.
2. You need more sleep and you are pushing too hard. Our brains seem to rely on sleep to cement new memories. You needn't pull all-nighters to get into trouble: In one study, volunteers who slept six hours nightly for two weeks didn't feel sleep-deprived, yet they performed substantially worse on tests of short-term memory.
Protect yourself: Make adequate rest a priority. If you can't? Micro-naps of six minutes were enough to boost volunteers' short-term performance in one study. Simply falling asleep might be enough to trigger the crucial memory process in the brain, researchers suspect.
3. You snore/sleep apnea. You may have sleep apnea, in which your airway gets blocked during sleep, cutting off oxygen for seconds at a time and starving brain cells. Men are more likely than women to develop apnea. Extra risk factors: being overweight or over 40.
Protect yourself: If you're a loud snorer who feels constantly fatigued, ask your doctor if you should be tested for apnea. You may need to wear a device while sleeping that delivers a constant stream of air to your nostrils through a small hose, preventing the dangerous interruptions in oxygen.
4. You feel sluggish or manic. You may have a thyroid problem. Thyroid hormones control your metabolism, but too much or too little can disrupt the normal chatter between brain cells. An overactive thyroid creates so much static, it's hard for the brain's messages to get through, while a sluggish thyroid slows brain messages to a crawl.
Protect yourself: Talk to a doctor about bothersome symptoms (especially if you're a woman -- you're at higher risk for hypothyroidism). An underperforming thyroid can leave you fatigued; with a hyped-up thyroid, your heart may race and you may feel manic or anxious.
5. You're over 65. It gets harder to absorb vitamin B12 from food as you age, and a serious deficiency can look a lot like Alzheimer's disease when its not.
Up to 20 percent of people over 65 are low in B12. It could also be that you are low in POTASSIUM at any age. Take a potassium pill. Any drug that also acts as a water pill will deplete your potassium levels and leave you feeling out of it and dizzy. If you are on medication TAKE POTASSIUM.
Protect yourself: If you're older and feeling fuzzy, ask your doctor if you should have your B12 level checked; you may need a supplement. Also consider a test if you're a strict vegetarian -- you avoid the top food sources of the vitamin.
6. You're depressed. People with severe depression lose brain cells. And the longer the depression lasts, the more cells are lost in areas critical to memory.
Protect yourself: Early treatment may be key. A 2008 study suggested that people who had longer episodes of depression were less likely to show memory improvement after their mood lifted.
7. You take an allergy drug or a sleeping pill. Many drugs commonly prescribed for things like insomnia, incontinence, allergies, and gastrointestinal cramps also interfere with a crucial brainchemical. If you're elderly, these drugs, called anticholinergics, can cause mental fogginess and forgetfulness.
Protect yourself: If you're over age 65, you're more vulnerable to side effects from diphenhydramine, an anticholinergic used in many over-the-counter sleep aids and allergy drugs. Mental fuzziness after starting these or any meds should prompt a talk with your doctor or pharmacist.
8. You shuffle when you walk. Doctors call it a magnetic gait because your feet seem to stick to the ground. It could signal normal pressure hydrocephalus, in which pockets in the brain swell with too much spinal fluid.
Protect yourself: A shuffle, incontinence, and memory problems are the classic symptoms, but not everyone has all three. Prompt treatment gives you the best chance of memory improvement.
9. You're taking a lot of medications. If you're on five or more drugs (polypharmacy), you're at high risk for problematic interactions. And yes, over-the-counter remedies count.
statin, lopressor, aspirin, water pill....real close on this one.
Replies
I know my psych meds cause memory loss... and I suffer from it. It sucks, but it\'s better than being locked in a hospital all the time because I can\'t control my moods.
This is a really good, informative journal!! It\'s all true! I\'m in the field and I know this stuff. The part about people taking too many drugs...that\'s often the doctor\'s problem. Rather than addressing issues with patients, on how to do better, let\'s just say on weight loss (cuz it\'s such a huge problem in this Country, even for the kids)....rather than give us good food guidelines and teach the children to stay away from Burger King, they just put everybody on a cholesterol medication, and a high blood pressure medication! They\'re lazy. And the pharmaceutical companies pay doctors big bucks to deal out their drugs.
Once a year people should put all their meds in a brown bag, go to the pharmacy, get the pharmacist to check and see how many of these drugs are duplicates (for the same condition) or how many of them interact dangerously (doctor\'s don\'t check or care what you take).
Jeepers, I didn\'t know I had this much to say on this topic!
doctors also only have ONE SEMESTER of pharmacology and use a diagnosis and symptomology book to figure out what the person has and what to prescribe, similarly, a vet uses a book called \"the five minute vet\" to do the same thing - which can be purchased for $55 used or $95 new and with a cd. we used to use it. nowadays we use mostly revivalanimal.com because they have a dear dr. roy section and i lovvvvve that catalog. they explain all things beautifully.
thorazine, i know affects memory. they gave that to my cousin at age 17 because he tried lsd (big deal) he went from being a straight A student and playing varsity football, to a zombie and he has NEVER gone back to normal memory wise. i will never forgive the hospital for that.
Thorazine was discontinued most places in the 60s when they also found out ppl were developing non-reversible laryngitis from it!
they still had thorazine in the 1990\'s, during college, i did social work clinical (one credit class) and mentored teens ages 11 - 17 living in shelters (they are called \"throwaway kids\" they hit their teens and their parent doesn\'t want to raise a teen, so they drop them off. one woman actually said she was 32 and needed to find a \"new man\" so she didn\'t want to have to compete with her 13 year old daughter (who didn\'t have a father) the younger two kids went with their father. that one actually severed her parental rights. what an asshole. that was for catholic charities. anyway, there was a teenager there who was on thorazine.
my cousin was put on thorazine in 1981 even though his parents were against it. i think its still around. i hate drugs, unless its absolutely necessary to save a life, i think the ocean and the sun and avoiding stress heals everything.
Lack of sleep can have catastrophic effects. The initial effect will be sleepiness, trouble concentrating, and slight aches and pains. Depriving yourself of a good night sleep in long term can have bad effects on your memory ability as well. Read more about lack of sleep effects in the article.
Lisko
Forgot to include the link: http://sleepinguide.com/sleep-disorders/lack-of-sleep-diminishing-effects
Lisko
Good tips here! *HUGS*