Women's brains do not deteriorate as they go through menopause. Our cognition does not get worse. Our short-term memory isn't quite as good, but actually our long-term problem solving skills are better. We see that menopause transition, and we want to attribute these mental changes to menopause, which is a natural thing to do. But you don't want to fall into an observational, anecdotal trap that simply isn't true.
Memory Loss
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Signs of a memory disorder, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease include:- difficult recall of recent memory
- loss of skills you used to have
- motor dysfunction
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The first sign of cognitive impairment is short-term memory loss. The individual may be forgetting details, such as dates and times of appointments - or perhaps repeating the same questions, comments or stories. He or she may be misplacing items. Everyday tasks such as taking medications and balancing a checkbook can be challenging. Essentially, you will begin to notice a decline from what previously was normal behavior.
If you begin to see these signs, make sure the individual is evaluated to see what factors could be contributing to the short-term memory loss. There could be multiple causes like an illness, depression, untreated anxiety or posttraumatic stress disorder.
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Dr. Eric Pfeiffer , Psychiatry, answeredSee All 2 AnswersIf you have more than one instance of forgetting, you should be evaluated by a memory specialist. This could be a psychiatrist, a neurologist or an internist, but, in any case, it should be a doctor who has a strong interest and extensive experience in memory evaluations. Standard memory tests may need to be performed. In addition, your ability for delayed recall of information may need to be tested. Delayed recall, that is, recall of information that had just recently been presented, is one of the earliest signs of mild cognitive impairment.
Further evaluation may require a session with a trained neuropsychologist, an magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or a positron emission tomography (PET) scan. An MRI is a test that produces an actual image of the brain, and it can pick up early indications of brain cell loss. A PET scan is similar but even more specialized and expensive, and it can pick up changes in brain cell activity or metabolism before there is any loss of brain tissue.
If you or someone close to you is diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, it can and should be treated by a memory specialist. Medications that have already been approved for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, such as Aricept, Exelon or Razadyne, have been shown to be of benefit to persons with minor cognitive impairment as well.
While mild cognitive impairment isn’t the same thing as Alzheimer’s disease, it can progress to Alzheimer’s disease if left undiagnosed and untreated. -
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Shelley Peterman Schwarz , Neurology, answeredSee All 2 AnswersCreate a personal health history. Remember important medical information by creating a binder where you keep a record of medical problems, medications, immunizations, allergies, dates of past hospitalizations and procedures, family medical history and more. Also keep copies of insurance information and legal documents such as Power of Attorney and Advance Medical Directives. -
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredSee All 3 AnswersIn reality, most memory loss is a little like vegetable soup. Your brain is really a pot of several cognitive ailments at once-some neuron loss, some neuron tangling, some vascular problems-that all contribute to losing some ability to recall information. In fact, almost all of us have some of the characteristics as we age. Although science hasn't pinpointed why or how memory loss happens, we do know that chemical changes in the brain's structure hinder the ability to process, store, and retrieve information.
As we get older, everyone has fits of forgetfulness. You might even forget things important to you and seemingly simple to remember, like names of friends, the date of your anniversary, the name of your favorite band (you know, the four guys, c'mon, bad haircuts). Anyway, age-related memory loss is normal. But we don't have to accept normal aging, and we can take steps to prevent age-related memory loss. Memory loss can start as early as age 30, but part of the complication of memory loss associated with aging is that several things cause memory loss. They are:
- Vascular problems: When insufficient blood gets to the brain, the lack of bloodflow can cause mini-strokes and impair memory.
- Alzheimer's: Here, neurons tangle with other neurons, causing them to stop working properly.
- Neuron loss: The loss of neurons or the loss of the function of those neurons causes many age-related problems; literally, you're losing part of your mind.
- Trauma: Memory loss can also come from trauma sustained during accidents or sports with repetitive injury to the brain, like boxing.
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredMany of us may think that memory loss comes at about the same time as our AARP membership cards, but the decline actually starts much earlier-in your mid 20s. It's not uncommon to see effects in your 30s and many more in your 40s.
What happens is that the speed in which you process information slows down naturally as you age (it's been proven to happen in mice, rats, and primates, as well). Specifically, that comes out in an inability to store information in our short-term memory (say, not remembering a word that you recently heard).
One theory for why this occurs is that a toxin eats away at that sheet of healthy fat that protects neurons; some believe that cholesterol is what creates these toxins. But other factors-including stress, thyroid disorders, diabetes, anxiety, depression, and trauma-could all play a role in starting and accelerating memory loss. Fortunately, you can take steps to slow the process.
YOU: The Owner's Manual, Updated and Expanded Edition: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger -
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Ms. Ashley Koff, RD , Nutrition & Dietetics, answeredEver heard of mommy brain? Feel that your memory was sharper before kid number one and is gone after number three? There's some nutritional rationale for this, which goes back to the idea that when pregnant, the body preferentially gives our docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) over to the baby to support its brain development. So if we don't replenish, we net at a loss. Since DHA intake doesn't appear to save us in the late stage (once we have dementia or worse, a cognitive disease such as Alzheimer's), what we do know is that we have to restock our stores all along the way. -
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredSee All 4 AnswersIf you forget to take your medication, put meds in containers divided by days of the week and times of the day. Ask family and friends for assistance, and download smartphone apps with text reminders and alarms. More than 125,000 people in North American die every year because they didn't follow their medication regimen. Even more are hospitalized. Small steps like the ones I mentioned can bring those numbers down to zero.