You remember leaving something in the other room and move to look for it. But when you walk through the door, all memory of what you came in for fades and you’re left there empty-handed, searching your brain.
This may last a few seconds or a few minutes, but more often than not, you will eventually remember what you were looking for and where to get it.
Dr. Kenneth Frumkin, author of Alzheimer’s or Aging? has a four-decade career as a researcher on how the brain and nervous system influence thoughts and emotions
Believe it or not, this is a good sign.
Temporarily forgotten does not mean gone, according to emergency medicine specialist Dr. Kenneth Frumkin, whose book Aging or Alzheimer’s? dives into a discussion of what is natural age-related forgetting or the early indication of Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia.
Memory loss is a characteristic symptom of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. And although all seniors with Alzheimer’s have suffered memory loss, not all seniors with memory loss have or will suffer from the disease.
Memory loss is a common sign of the normal aging process. Cognitive impairment, however, is its “evil twin.”
Cognition is the difference between “remembering” and “knowing,” says Dr. Frumkin.
He writes: ‘As for the “evil twin”: when we develop cognitive failures, they can be incorrectly perceived as worsening memory, masking or delaying our recognition of cognitive decline’s more serious threats to our safety and independence.
‘It’s one thing to forget why you went to the mall (memory) and quite another to not be able to find your way home.’
Aging or Alzheimer’s? dives into a discussion of what is natural age-related forgetting or the early indication of Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia.
Cognitive decline occurs to some extent in everyone. Age-related cognitive decline (ARCD) refers to natural changes in skills related to language, attention, and problem-solving, and usually begins around age 60.
Maybe your grandfather’s word-finding skills have declined, but his vocabulary has stayed relatively the same, or your grandmother can no longer cook dinner while talking on the phone.
Other fairly harmless signs of normal aging include those tip-of-the-tongue moments (when that specific word or correct name is hard to remember), a slower speed at problem-solving and decision-making; reduced processing speed that makes routine tasks like mental math take a little longer; less vivid memories; and problems mastering a new skill or retaining new information.
ARCD is generally a gradual process, making it more manageable for the older person, their family, and the people who will care for them.
For most people, normal aging will still look like sticky notes around the house, and sometimes you’ll wonder, “Why did I walk back into this room?”
But for others, notes around the house and brief memory lapses will progress to more disruptive changes, such as forgetting medical appointments or social events, having trouble following a conversation, losing your train of thought, and having difficulty following instructions and finishing. tasks. .
When it has become clear to the person suffering from memory lapses that something is not right, or that their family has become involved, a doctor will perform cognitive tests such as the Mini Mental State Examination or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment to diagnose a person. with mild cognitive problems. impairment (MCI).
Mild cognitive impairment does not equate to dementia, but it is also not something that should be ignored or attributed to aging.
And although a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment does not guarantee the onset of Alzheimer’s in the future, it does make it more likely.
Dr. Frumkin said, “Following a diagnosis of MCI, all outcomes remain possible, including improvement, transition to other forms of dementia, stable deficits that do not progress, and even recovery of normal cognitive function.”
A study conducted on Veterans Affairs patients with mild cognitive impairment over an average of two and a half years found that only 12 percent of cases had progressed to dementia.
The majority (67 percent) remained unchanged and 21 percent improved.
Dr. Frumkin said in his book that “the ‘reversal rate’ (from MCI to normal cognition) has been as high as 25 to 30 percent” and is associated with a lack of dementia-related biomarkers. found in the cerebrospinal fluid.
Without certain biomarkers (specific health points that a doctor will measure to uncover concerns) an Alzheimer’s diagnosis is impossible. The most important are plaque buildup of amyloid proteins, fibrous clumps of tau proteins, and brain cell loss.
But biomarkers alone are not definitive predictors of the onset of Alzheimer’s. They indicate the presence of biological processes related to Alzheimer’s, but the actual appearance of symptoms is influenced by many factors, including genetic, environmental and health-related aspects.
The progression of Alzheimer’s should be viewed as a spectrum, Dr. Frumkin concludes, rather than as a step-by-step process from asymptomatic changes in the brain to notable memory lapses, followed by mild cognitive impairment, culminating in Alzheimer’s. / diagnosis of dementia.
In Aging or Alzheimer’s?, Dr. Frumkin argues that cognitive decline, as well as measurable biomarkers, such as proteins in the brain, change gradually and continuously over time.