Amnesia – Memory loss

What is amnesia?

Amnesia – failure to memorize information or events. This condition may be temporary or permanent.

The causes of amnesia

Memory – property of the nervous system, occurs as a result of complex interactions between multiple parts of the brain. Most cases of memory loss or inability to memorize new information caused by brain damage as a result of injuries, disease, infection of the brain or taking some medications.

Sometimes the cause of amnesia remains unknown, especially with the onset of global amnesia.

Psychological trauma or shock event can sometimes lead to so-called dissociative amnesia. This is the most common form of short-term amnesia.

Risk factors of amnesia

Factors, that can increase the risk of amnesia include:

• Traumatic brain injury, eg, from a car accident or contact sports;
• Brain damage as a result of diseases and disorders, such as:
  • Alcoholism;
  • Stroke;
  • Severe illness, affecting the brain, eg, encephalitis;
  • Use heavy drugs, such as heroin;
• Complications from brain damage as a result of medical procedures, such as:
  • Эlektrosudorozhnaya therapy;
  • Surgery on the brain;
• Dementia, eg, Alzheimer's disease;
• Recent physical or emotional trauma;
• Taking certain medications, such as pain relievers;
• Metabolic changes, such as low blood sugar or brain hypoxia;
• Migraine with aura;
• Convulsions.

Symptoms of amnesia

Amnesia symptoms may include:

• Inability to recall information from the past (retrograde amnesia) and/or remember new information (anterogradnaya amnesia);
• Confusion;
• Disorientation.

Amnesia, usually, does not affect the overall condition of the intellect, the identity of the, or identity. In other words, people with amnesia still remember, who they are.

Diagnosis of amnesia

You will be asked about symptoms and medical history. The doctor may ask specific questions about memory loss, and that, When she started. To collect additional information can also be interviewed family members.

To determine the cause of amnesia, the doctor may conduct or assign the following tests:

• Physical and neurological examination;
• Blood tests, to find an imbalance of chemicals or infection;
• To search for damage to the structures of the brain, his execution can be assigned to images. For this purpose, applied:
  • MRT;
  • CT scan;
  • Cerebral angiography;
• Electroencephalogram – measurement of the electrical activity of the brain.

Treatment of amnesia

When temporary amnesia treatment will focus on healing the causes of its occurrence. It may include psychological treatment – for dissociative amnesia. Some cases of amnesia can last only a few days, and simply require monitoring until, until amnesia will not be itself.

Long-term amnesia requires the application of occupational therapy and learning new skills, to return to your daily activities. Occupational therapy can help you learn new skills and memory training, to heal the memory loss. Technical tools, laptops, or pictures can also help control amnesia and promote early recovery of memory.

Memory loss can be difficult for the patient, his family and friends. A therapist or support group can help you and friends cope with this problem.

Prevention of amnesia

At the moment, there are no specific methods for the prevention of amnesia.