Demystifying age related memory loss and how it can be prevented
The confidence-eroding hunt for missing phones and spectacles is distressing; as is witnessing the mildly bemused gaze of afflicted family members. Conversation is a hide-and-seek of words. The American Medical Association says that if people can provide considerable detail of their memory failure and are more concerned about their lapses than are family and friends, they’re more likely experiencing age-related memory loss, not dementia.
That’s reassuring, but research from the Mayo Clinic is not. It shows that people with memory concerns are 56% more likely than those without to receive a diagnosis of dementia within six years. Most of us assume that we will, in old age, experience memory problems, but in August scientists discovered that memory loss can be prevented, and reversed, by replenishing brain protein. While the new research is being hailed as ground-breaking, Dr Kate Irving, who runs the Memory Works clinic at DCU, is sceptical. “I rail against the notion that an injection of protein will reverse memory problems. I believe that, at best, a small number of people will benefit from this type of treatment. In my view, the researchers may as well go in search of the fountain of youth as attempt to solve forgetfulness with a single chemical.” As memory assessment co-ordinator for Community Action on Dementia in Mayo, Paula Frain differentiates age-related forgetfulness from dementia. “If memory progressively deteriorates from month to month, or if it impacts on language or the ability to reason, judge, focus or pay attention, these are signs that there may be something more at play than normal, age-related memory loss.”
