Alcohol memory loss or blackouts are quite common in individuals who consume excess alcohol for long periods. Many people are obsessed with alcohol and unable to control how much they drink. Besides addiction there is a lot of evidence that excess memory loss due to alcohol can occur prematurely. Many studies have shown that alcohol can impair one’s ability to both retain and develop new memory. However, there are different gradations of memory loss. In the beginning one may start to forget trivial dates or lose things in the home. But as the drinking persists this may lead to more prolonged memory loss, reduced concentration spans and have difficulty remembering even the most familiar items. Finally, one develops blackouts which typically occur after binge drinking episodes and are associated with complete loss of all recent memory.

In some individuals who continue to drink there is a medical disorder that can develop leading to dementia. Known as the Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome, this syndrome affects nerves in the entire body. Alcoholic dementia is commonly associated with the wernicke Korsakoff syndrome. It is a syndrome of severe dementia associated with prolonged consumption of alcohol. With time the syndrome presents with memory loss, poor cognition and learning disability. The dementia is progressive and incurable. Alcohol dementia occurs in 10-15 percent of individuals who drink excess alcohol. The symptoms of alcohol dementia are similar to dementia seen in Alzheimer’s disease. In some cases, it is very difficult to distinguish between the two illnesses as they have similar signs and symptoms. Early on in alcohol dementia, one may have acute memory lapses, difficulty performing familiar tasks, incidental forgetfulness, impaired judgment, problems with speech and comprehension. It is usually the family or friends who notice these changes first. If these early signs are missed, then the course is irreversible in due time.

Alcohol has a direct toxic effect on the front part of the brain. When certain nerve cells in the frontal brain are damaged, this leads to poor judgment, inability to make decision and lack of awareness. Scientists have shown that alcohol itself is broken down into toxic byproducts which damage the nerve. The other reason why alcohol induces dementia is lack of proper nutrition including vitamins.

Alcohol continues to produce progressive damage to the brain. Alcohol also prevents formation of new memory and over time, it also erases the long term memory.

Once alcoholism memory loss is diagnosed, treatment is recommended. In most early cases of alcohol and memory loss, there is a good chance that the defect can be reversed. This includes immediate cessation of alcohol consumption, eating a healthy nutritious diet and taking vitamin supplements. In general, women have a better prognosis than men, primarily because of the positive effects of family and friends.

Many drugs have been developed to treat alcohol dementia, but so far there is little evidence that any drugs work. Most drugs have major side effects, are prohibitively expensive and only work in the very mild cases of alcohol memory loss.

People always forget names and faces; they also forget where they’ve put their keys or cell phone, but very few of them stop and wonder what might be the memory loss causes and where they’re heading on the long run.

What are the common memory loss causes?

Even if it might seem strange, a lack of certain vitamins and nutrients might prevent the brain from normally processing the information. Amino acids and the vitamins from the B group are essential for a proper cerebral activity. Sometimes, a memory blank might suggest a lack of nutrients and a poor supply of neurotransmitters. Other common causes can be stress, some thyroid disorders, diabetes and hypoglycemia.

There is also a series of serious conditions that damage the memory fields of the brain, such as dementia and delirium, mainly caused by anxiety and depression or by chronicle diseases such as Parkinson or Alzheimer.

Aging is also a common cause of memory loss, though it doesn’t affect the brain too much and it’s mostly related to long-term memories and a slow-down in the information processing activity of the brain.

What is the short-term memory loss and which are its causes?

Short-term memory is when, for instance, someone have used a phone number once or twice and, because he doesn’t need it anymore, the number will be erased from his brain in a few-days time. An important cause of short term memory loss is stress. When people are very stressed and pressured, they tend to process a bit more slowly the information and can’t recall it immediately. Anxiety and fury can also influence the memorizing process, because the high blood pressure prevents the brain from having a normal activity.

Working under pressure for a certain period of time might cause some memory lacks and decrease the power to focus on important issues and prioritize them.

What are the causes of sudden memory loss?

A person can suddenly loose his/her memory in some specific situation, like a head injury, a stroke or certain infections. Being the storage place for memories, any physical injury of the head can irreversibly affect the brain and cause an instant memory loss. Strokes are usually caused by a very high blood pressure and if it happens to be in the memory area, then a memory loss is likely to occur.

Other causes of a sudden loss of memory are brain infections, such as meningitis or some kind of chronic illness, like epilepsy.

Which are the preventative methods?

The best way to avoid memory loss is to assure your body with an equilibrated regimen and lifestyle. Cigarettes, alcohol and drugs are to be avoided and a diet rich in B and C vitamins and many fluids is more than recommended. It would be great if people could avoid the stress, but due to the actual social environment, this is not possible. Therefore, some stress relief techniques or a good balance of working schedule and spare time, might reduce the pressure on the brain. It’s true that with age, people unavoidably loose their long-term memory, but at least there are methods to eliminate the short term memory loss causes.

The reason why memory loss has never been appreciated in the past because the major focus was always on other symptoms of depression. However, today it is appreciated that depressed patients can have a variety of memory problems which include forgetting common things, have troubling remembering, difficulty making decisions or organizing heir thought. While scientists have speculated that they may be neurotransmitter changes in the brain, the exact role of these transmitters not understood nor is it known which neurotransmitter in directly associated with memory loss.

Many depressed individuals indicate that they have great difficulty remembering things of the distant past; and when they do remember the events are skewed. The other aspect of depression is that they can only remember negative events of the past and not the good memories. This negatively reinforces the depression and fuels the cycle of memory loss.

Individuals with memory loss and depression develop poor coordination of their memory. Both attention span and concentration are altered in depressed individuals. For example one may forget the address where one lives and the next day he/she may even forget how to get to their home. Depressed individuals also become quite inattentive and confused about every day events in life. The hallmark of memory loss in depressed patient is that enduring memory is not formed. It appears that in depression only select memory is stored and the rest of events are displaced or erased from memory storage pools.

Memory loss due to depression can present with difficulty making decisions, lack of concentration or remembering things which were once familiar. Focusing becomes difficult and no new memory is formed during periods of depression.

So far there is no obvious structural problems have been visualized in patients with depression. The latest brain imaging technology have now allowed researchers to study pathways which may be linked to depression and memory.
Current studies show that brain cell activity in the front part of the brain is often decreased in depression. The chemical which appears to play a role in both depression and memory appears to be serotonin. In animal studies, it appears that when drugs which increase levels of noradrenalin and serotonin are increased, memory levels also increase. Serotonin is known to regulate blood flow to areas the brain involved in depression and it appears that.

Individuals with depression are felt to have low levels of serotonin which may explain the reduced activity. Moreover, serotonin nerves play a role in memory and pleasurable behavior. The latest anti depressants like the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors boost arousal and improve memory as they make more of this neurotransmitter available.
The prognosis for memory loss during depression is good. With treatment, the depression memory loss slows down and one starts to remember a lot more.

As one gets old, long term memory loss can be a major problem. Our brain is very complex and has a great capacity to store information. The brain can store both short and long term memory with great efficacy. However, by the time an individual reaches age of 30, brain cells have started to die. As one gets old, more cells die and hence both memory storage capacity and ability to make new memory is affected.

What should be understood is that short term memory is not affected by aging. However, some individuals simply are not able to remember things that they were well acquainted with in the past; like their old neighbors, street address or the year they were born. This is loss of long term memory.

Besides aging, many factors can affect short and long term memory loss. The most common cause of long term memory loss is Alzheimer’s disease. This disorder affects close to 10% of the population at age 65 and about 60% by age 75. Other causes of long term memory loss include strokes, head injury, side effects of drugs, brain tumors, seizures, high blood pressure, alcoholism, and poor nutrition

In the beginning, one may be able to remember very distant things of the past, but not be able to remember things which just happened a few days ago. For example when may not remember what one ate yesterday but still be able to remember where one was born.

Symptoms of long term memory loss:
- Forgetting things frequently
- Forgetting how to do tasks which were once very familiar
- Difficulty learning new tasks or doing new things
- Repeatedly asking the same question in one conversation
- Having trouble making choices
- Not being able to keep track of daily events
- Forgetting names
- Losing one’s way home

Several areas in the brain have been identified which play a role in long term memory. The hippocampus located in the center of the brain is a small organ which has a great capacity to store memory; however, this structure is very vulnerable to age related changes. The loss of neurons in the hippocampus starts around age 30 and eventually leads to loss of memory. Other area of the brain where memory is supposed to be retained is the frontal part of the brain; when trauma occurs in the frontal brain, a distinct loss of memory is obvious.

Unfortunately, there is no real treatment for memory loss. One can however prevent memory loss or reduce the risks by regular exercise, eating healthy, learning how to manage stress, getting adequate sleep, not smoking, controlling diabetes and hypertension. There are a few drugs used to treat patients with Alzheimer’s disease. These drugs are known to increase levels of acetylcholine in the brain and supposed to improve memory and cognitive behavior; however the majority of the studies reveal that these drugs are only useful for only the mildest cases of dementia. Moreover, the drugs are very expensive and have side effects which in many cases are worse than the long term memory loss.

Sudden memory loss symptoms can be quite dramatic. Most people are aware that in Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) there is a slow and progressive loss of memory. However, memory loss can also be sudden and there are many causes for it.

In young people one of the most common causes of sudden memory loss is head trauma. Both blunt and penetrating head trauma can have devastating effects on many brain functions including memory. Even mild to moderate head trauma can lead to confusion, loss of recent memory and poor concentration. Many individuals who suffer from blunt head trauma often take months or even years to get back to normal.

There are some drugs that can also lead to sudden memory loss. In the last decade there have been reports that statin drugs used to lower blood cholesterol can affect memory. The few reports indicate that individuals who started to take statins suddenly developed memory loss which was sudden and reversed after the statins were discontinued. There are also a great many brain medications used to treat schizophrenia, psychosis and bipolar which can impair memory, concentration and lead to poor judgment. Narcotics and other pain medication care a common cause of sudden memory lapses. Another related cause of sudden memory loss is use of illicit drugs like LSD, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

Another very common cause of short term memory loss symptoms is a stroke. Strokes can occur without warning usually in elderly individuals. The stroke may be associated with paralysis of the body, loss of speech, difficulty swallowing and/or loss of bladder or bowel incontinence. The memory loss can be moderate to severe and is not always recoverable. Risk factors for stroke include high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, sedentary life style and high cholesterol levels in blood. Asides from stroke, other brain disorders that are also linked to sudden loss of memory include brain tumors, rupture of aneurysms, or brain infections (meningitis).

Loss of memory symptoms can also result from persistently high blood pressure. High blood pressure can selectively damage some parts of mid brain and lead to minute strokes that may present with loss of memory or change in personality.

Seizures can also lead to sudden loss of memory. Moreover, individuals with seizure also take anti seizure medications that also have profound side effects which further impair concentration and judgment.

One of the rare causes of memory loss is bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Also known as mad cow disease, this disease is acquired by eating infected cow brain. The disease rapidly spreads to the brain and causes severe dementia.

Irrespective of the cause, loss of memory symptoms includes:

Difficulty remembering common words when speaking
Asking the same questions over and over again
Mixing up words in speech
Being unable to complete familiar tasks like driving to school or going shopping
Misplacing items in inappropriate places
Getting lost in familiar environments
Undergoing sudden changes in mood or behavior without any valid reason
Unable to follow simple directions

Sudden memory loss symptoms generally have a better prognosis than Alzheimer’s disease if the cause is discovered and treated promptly.

Due to the very agitated and dynamic environments people live in, short term memory loss is not a surprising phenomenon anymore. The great amount of information coming from all parts makes it almost impossible for the brain to process it and assimilate it fast and efficiently. There are also some complex situations that might cause a memory shortage, but most often is the stress and the inadequate alimentation that make people forget where they’ve put their keys.

What can cause the loss of short term memory?

Stress, anxiety and fury are some of the most common causes of memory shortages. When someone is nervous or passes through a very busy period, blood pressure tends to grow and that puts a lot of pressure on brain activities. And if these mental states are combined with an inadequate diet, lacking vitamins, amino acids and other essential nutrients, then it shouldn’t be a surprise if the brain gets lazy in processing information and recall it instantly.

Thyroid disorders and diabetes or low levels of glucose can also lead to short time memory loss. Apart from these apparently simple causes, there are some more complicated ones, like the Parkinson’s disease or the Alzheimer’s disease. The problem with these two last conditions is that they not only affect the short time memory, but also the long term one.

What is the sudden short term memory loss?

This condition is usually caused by a physical disorder. A head injury for instance, might affect the area of the brain in charge with memorizing the facts and information. This is usually an irreversible condition and the lost memories are, most of the time, impossible to recover. Another cause of the sudden memory shortage is the stroke. When the blood pressure increases too much in the capillary vases that oxygenate the brain an explosion is likely to happen. This can damage the brain surface and affect the activity of the memory area.

Meningitis or other similar infections of the brain are among the common causes of the loss of short-term memory. Epilepsy has a high influence on the capacity of remembering things that happened in the past and processing new information in one of its advanced stages. The bad news is that the loss of short term memory causes more serious conditions of the brain, such as confusion that can easily lead to paranoia and dementia.

What to do to avoid memory loss on the short term?

Even if the simple cases of memory loss are treatable, it’s always better to prevent than to treat. Therefore, people should try to have an equilibrated diet and a balanced lifestyle. They should avoid drinking alcohol, taking drugs, smoking and drinking coffee and, instead, eat natural foods and drink a lot of fluids (water, green tea, natural juices rich in vitamin C). Eliminating stress is almost an impossible mission, but they could alternate working periods with relaxing activities and even try some stress relief techniques. They could also try to memorize as few information as possible in order to give the brain a break and avoid the short term memory loss.

For individuals who want to enhance their memory, one can stimulate the brain by reading, solving puzzles or playing video games.

Medications are frequently being prescribed as a treatment for memory loss. It is claimed that these medications not only enhance memory but improve cognitive behavior; these drugs have often been prescribed to individuals with AD. Cholinesterase inhibitors which include donepezil, rivastigimine and galantamine are widely prescribed by physicians. These drugs act by increasing levels of acetylcholine in the brain. However, these drugs do not work in everyone with memory loss. More than 50% of individuals show no response. The rest of the people stop taking these drugs because of side effect which include vomiting, nausea, diarrhea and personality changes. Another recent drug for memory is Memantine. The manufacturers claim that it works well for moderate to severe AD by protecting the brain cells from damage. The drug is often combined with a cholinesterase inhibitor. However, from the few studies available, Memantine has severe side effects and fails to improve memory in the majority of patients.

Since conventional medicine has failed to live up to expectations, many people are now seeking an alternative treatment for memory loss. Hundreds of health supplements are being marketed by alternative health care practitioners as a panacea for memory loss. These include consuming mega doses of vitamins, ginkgo, ginseng, green tea extract, gotu Kola, 5 hydroxytryptophan, phosphatidyl choline, L carnitine and DMAE. Unfortunately there is not a single reputable study in the scientific literature which has validated these claims. Moreover, many of the supplements are made in the Orient and contain a lot of fakes and contaminants.

At the moment there is no short term memory loss treatment. Many substances have come and gone and none has lived up to expectations. One of the ways to decrease your chances of long term memory loss is to reduce your risk of heart disease. The best memory loss treatments include controlling your blood pressure, eating healthy, exercising on a regular basis, not smoking and avoiding alcohol.

More and more people reaching a respectful age complain about forgetting small aspects of broad facts, names, numbers and faces, mostly because such people suffer from what the specialists call “age memory loss“. What is the memory loss? Why does it happen when people get older? This section will try to answer these questions and much more.

How are age and memory loss connected?

First of all, it’s important to mention that all information is stored in the brain, in two different parts of it: the part designed to retain long-term information (memories from the childhood, adolescence and so on) and short term information, which are the ones stored very recently. The bad news is that as soon as the human body stops growing and developing, the process is inverted. That is to say that begining in the 20s, the brain starts to loose neurons. The more someone is stressed and has an irregular schedule of study, work and sleep, the more brain cells are being altered. Unfortunately, the neurons cannot regenerate so that by the 70’s, someone is likely to loose a lot of important brain cells.

Age related memory loss becomes, this way, explainable; the more cells someone looses, the harder it will be to access information stored a very long time before. Usually, short term memory shouldn’t be affected by the aging process; however, it’s no news that people forget recent things such as where they’ve put the keys or the cell phone.

Are there any other causes for the memory loss?

Unfortunately, there a series of diseases that may cause memory loss, the short-term one or the long term one or even both. For instance, depression, drugs, strokes, alcoholism or head injuries are a very common cause of memory losses. Not to mention more serious conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and, the most important, the Alzheimer’s disease. This last one has irreversible effects and even if it starts to affect short-time memory, in time it will move further to affect the long-term memory as well.

Are there any differences between age memory loss and the memory problems caused by other diseases?

The causes of memory loss at an old age are not diagnosticated as rapidly as the ones caused by dementia or other conditions. When someone forgets how to perform common actions (such as following a well-known road to reach a certain destination or how to cook a very common recipe) things could be more serious than they seem. However, the most indicated person to tell exactly which are the causes and how they can be ameliorated is  the general physician or a specialist in neuropsychiatry. Normally, the age shouldn’t affect someone’s daily behavior, nor should progress in a few months time.

The memory loss old age caused by aging doesn’t make people less intelligent or able to take care of them and engage in serious coherent discussions. They are still able to learn new things, even if the brain might need more time to process the information. People with age memory loss are not handicaped, nor ill.