The problem of memory loss can disturb at any time, but most often it occurs in people of advanced age. Memories can become worse due to sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, dementia. Amnesia due to trauma and other causes is possible. There are a huge number of diseases that are disturbing in old age, which negatively affect the functioning of the brain. Consider general information.
Age and he alth
The older the person, the higher the likelihood of onset of the disease. Over the years, irreversible processes occur in the body that negatively affect various vital functions. Human memory has not yet been sufficiently studied, but it is known for certain: the older the person, the higher the risk of pathologies that worsen it. Of course, memory failures can also be observed in those whose age is middle and young. There is infantile amnesia. However, this does not mean that cases related to old age deserve less attention. Memory is the link betweenindividual, past, present and future. Memory is necessary for adequate adaptation to society. Without knowing your name, loved ones, it is extremely difficult for a person to adapt to the world around him. In adulthood, memories disappear in a relatively large number of people, and this is well illustrated by the statistics of cases of amnesia.
While doctors do not have a good idea of the diseases of old age, they can hardly formulate which processes are disturbed in the brain over the years. Accordingly, memory loss is a poorly understood phenomenon. Amnesia can be long-lasting, or it can affect only a short period of time. You can lose some of your memory. Memories can elude a person entirely.
From where and why?
Several reasons have been established for amnesia in old age. The disease can be explained by mental factors, human physiology. If he suffers from a chronic disease, the consequences can be the most negative. In particular, deterioration of mental activity is possible, due to which memory disappears. Amnesia can be provoked by a head injury, due to which the functionality of the organ is impaired. Violations can be explained by age-related changes, problems of the working capacity of the nervous system. A sedentary life, monotonous work, metabolic and blood flow problems, malnutrition, bad habits play their role. Memory loss is possible due to the introduction of an infectious agent, due to constant lack of sleep, agitation, depressionmental status. There is a higher chance of amnesia if a person has had meningitis, a stroke, or suffers from epileptic seizures.
Among the mental and psychological factors provoking illness in old age, it is worth noting regular stress, dissatisfaction with oneself and one's life, lack of attention from loved ones. If you are often worried about overexcitation, if a person is lethargic, feels chronically tired, the likelihood of amnesia for him is above average. Thinking points to similar risks. An individual subject to such moments tends to act mechanically, not paying attention to his actions, so what is done is simply not imprinted in the memory.
How to spot the problem?
It is possible to assume that a disease associated with the brain begins to bother you in old age, if at times the mind is confused. A person characterizes this with the phrase "everything is mixed up in my head." Often this period accounts for short-term amnesia. Speech disorders are possible. They are more likely to worry because of dementia, trauma. These shortcomings are very often combined with memory problems. Scientists have found that this is due to a violation of the normal state of Broca's area, which is responsible for the work of the language. At the same time, it may be difficult to concentrate. The symptom often accompanies the consequences of infection, may indicate a tumor process in the brain tissues.
Among the diseases of boxers in old age, memory loss and dementia are common. This is due to the high probability of injury during training and performances. The result is almost alwaystransient headache. It can disturb for some time after getting injured, then calm down for many years and return again when the person has already left his career due to old age. The old man's head may hurt due to infection.
Symptoms noteworthy
Some features may indicate the possibility of amnesia even if there is no such problem yet. So, the risk of memory loss is indicated by diseases of the elderly in old age, leading to the inability to orientate normally and coordinate movements. Often this is accompanied by a violation of visual memories. It is difficult for a person to recognize the place in which he is. Many people have trouble concentrating. This condition very often indicates the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
It is possible to suspect that memory loss may be disturbing if there is a tremor, often dizzy. A person threatened with amnesia often feels tired. He is characterized by a bad mood, lack of interest in life.
About varieties
If due to an illness, memory has become worse in old age, you need to see a doctor. The doctor will first determine what type of pathology. Short-term failures or long-term loss of memories are possible. It is customary to talk about the retro-, anterograde type, about the complete loss or loss of only a part. Sudden amnesia is possible. If the probability of a gradual process. A global loss is observed when a person cannot remember anything from the experience, is unable toremember what is happening right now. Selective amnesia occurs when single events suddenly pop into memory. It also happens that a person cannot recognize human faces. At times he may feel that the person he meets is someone he has seen before. At the same time, all attempts to remember who it is end in failure.
What to do?
If a close relative has such a disease when you forget everything in old age, the task of relatives is to provide adequate assistance. Often you can count on the restoration of memory if treatment is started on time. It is very difficult to calculate success in each specific case in advance, everything is too individual. Cooperating with the doctor, determine the cause of the condition, select measures to eliminate it. If there is an injury, it must be treated promptly. If memory is lost due to alcohol, the patient should be helped to refuse alcoholic beverages. If a person is faced with severe stress, a change in the situation, the psychological environment can help restore memory. In many ways, the success of treatment is determined by the family. In general, therapy necessarily includes kind words and constant conversation. You need to look at photos with an elderly person, immerse yourself in memories together. Performing everyday activities together and walking with the patient, preparing your favorite dishes, you can gradually eliminate the manifestations of the disease. If a person loses some skills due to illness, such interaction with relatives helps to restore them.
What helps?
Ifa consequence of Parkinson's disease in old age has been a deterioration in memory, medicines can help. They are also prescribed for dementia or amnesia. It is categorically impossible to take drugs on your own - you can do harm. The doctor, prescribing medication, proceeds from the root cause of memory impairment. They can advise Vitrum Memory. This is a means by which the brain receives more oxygen molecules. The saturation of tissues with glucose improves. In addition, while taking the drug, the ability to concentrate increases, vision becomes better.
To improve brain activity, "Aminalon" can be advised. This drug stabilizes the biochemical processes occurring in the brain tissues. Its reception allows you to increase the intelligibility of speech. Sometimes "Intenal" is useful. It is available in capsule form and as a syrup. The remedy is prescribed if, simultaneously with memory deterioration, tinnitus is disturbed, if the patient's condition is depressed, he is often disturbed by dizziness.
Ginko Biloba, Cavinton, Bilobil, Memantine have a good reputation. Sometimes the doctor advises taking Nootropil. As the experience of application shows, the drugs "Divaza", "Mexidol" help many. Exelon and Reminil are known for good effect.
Alternative approach
Recently, several effective computer methods have appeared that allow a person to return the ability to remember normally. These are quite expensive activities that are not available to everyone.
If a person thinks more and more,why there are many diseases in old age, if he is worried about the worsened ability to remember what happened, while there is no way to spend money on expensive medicinal methods, you can try to resort to traditional medicine recipes. It is believed that memory improves if you regularly drink mint-sage infusion. Useful infusion of clover. You can pour boiling water over dried thyme. The mixture is insisted for a quarter of an hour and used inside three times a day instead of the usual tea. Honey is used to improve the taste.
You can make a homemade medicine with eleutherococcus. 40 g of dried rhizomes are poured into 600 ml of boiling water, boiled for 10 minutes. The finished drink is consumed in a glass four times a day.
After boiling a liter of water, add 50 g of dried walnut leaves to the liquid and leave for a quarter of an hour. The resulting herbal juice is drunk three times daily in a glass. Infusions with dill seeds, potatoes, rowan bark are also useful.
Important aspects
If memory-related illnesses begin to bother you, it is especially important to eat well in old age. The diet should contain nuts, fish and fresh berries, especially wild ones. Useful carrots. It is necessary to diversify the menu so that the body receives all the necessary vitamins. In old age, dark chocolate is especially needed. Do not neglect zucchini, broccoli and various varieties of cabbage.
Regular, moderate exercise, like exercising every morning, will do the trick. As doctors say, at the first sign of memory loss, you need to start memorizing literature. You can study foreign languages. Usefulgames, dancing, walking, visiting new places. Crossword puzzles are especially recommended for the elderly. By regularly exercising your memory, you can keep your brain in good condition. Then you won’t have to find out by yourself what diseases attack your head in old age. If there are stress factors, you need to consult a doctor for the selection of a suitable safe sedative.
About diseases
It has long been known which he alth problems are more likely to cause memory loss in old age. It is fair to start the list of diseases with Pick's disease. With it, atrophy covers the frontal lobe, temples. The disease is detected in people 50-60 years old. The average life expectancy after the manifestation is about a decade.
The same list includes senile dementia. This disease in the common people is called senile insanity. Because of it, the psyche changes, the person becomes depressed. Speech, memory, thinking suffer. Attention deteriorates, the person thinks strangely. Already from the first manifestations, such dementia greatly impairs the quality of life. The patient needs comprehensive support from doctors and relatives.
One of the first places in the list of diseases that threaten old age with particular force is Alzheimer's disease. With it, the memory becomes worse gradually. A person gradually loses the skills of everyday life. Risk group - people over 60 years old. The first symptom of Alzheimer's disease is short-term amnesia. A person has difficulty absorbing new information. Gradually, periods of forgetfulness lengthen, speech becomes worse. About progressailment says the inability to navigate in time, terrain. The patient loses self-care skills, all body functions deteriorate.
Alzheimer's disease
If you ask an average person what is the name of the disease that affects people very often in old age, he will probably remember Alzheimer among the first. This is one of the varieties of dementia, and it occurs more often than others. Pathology belongs to the category of neurodegenerative. The official description was compiled in 1907. More often the disease is detected in those over 65, but there is a rare form of the early type. If in 2006 there were 26.6 million officially registered patients, by 2050 there will probably be four times as many.
Like premature disease, in old age, Alzheimer's pathology begins with barely noticeable manifestations. Regression is usually comparatively slow but steady. At an early stage of the first, short-term memory suffers, a person can hardly remember what he has memorized recently. As the disease progresses, the amnesia extends to long-term memories. Speech problems are fixed, cognitive functions suffer. The patient is not oriented to the area, cannot provide for himself. The progress of the disease leads to death.
Scared or not?
If you suspect Alzheimer's disease accompanied by memory loss in old age, you need to see a doctor. The doctor will order cognitive tests. MRI shown. It is very difficult to make a forecast for the case in advance, since the course and duration vary greatly from person to person. Availablevery long latent stage without manifestations. On average, people live seven years after diagnosis. About 3% live more than 14 years after diagnosis.
Although many people know the name of the disease, memory loss in old age is heard in educational institutions and through the media, yet no one can say where it comes from. Scientists are still trying to determine all the causes. There is not even an accurate idea of the development of the disease. It has been established that the main role is played by amyloid plaques that accumulate in brain tissues.
About therapy
It is impossible to list all the articles in newspapers and magazines, materials in the scientific and journalistic literature devoted to Alzheimer's disease, which leads to memory loss in old age. Most of our compatriots probably know what the name of the disease is, and many people know this, because the pathology was detected in relatives and acquaintances. The problem of treatment lies in the lack of funds that would completely eliminate the pathology. Modern techniques are aimed at alleviating symptoms. So far, there are no drugs that would help to exclude the progress of the disease. Even slowing it down is not possible.
Regularly, new promising drugs appear, but at the stage of clinical testing, most of them turn out to be ineffective. More than once, the media reported on the cessation of work on funds that seemed particularly promising to the public. Predominantly ineffectiveness is proved by the stage of comparison with the placebo group, proving that each new developmentgives nothing. This is due to the problem of misunderstanding of the pathological processes that lead to illness.
What to do?
In Alzheimer's disease, the main task is to relieve symptoms. Memantine preparations are combined with cholinesterase-inhibiting substances that have a central effect (there are now three such compounds). Tacrine was the first officially approved drug. Today, Donepezil is used for severe dementia. It is the only remedy permitted in this pathological condition. If the disease is accompanied by severe behavioral disorders, antipsychotics are additionally prescribed. They moderately weaken aggressive impulses, eliminate psychosis. Given the abundance of side effects, drugs in this group are prescribed as rarely as possible. Be that as it may, scientists have not yet found a way to solve this problem, but are actively conducting research that should change the status quo.
