Amnesia

Amnesia is a pathological condition of a patient in which the cognitive function of memorizing information is impaired, or memory is completely (partially) lost. Sometimes, this pathology occurs in the elderly, and it is associated with natural brain destruction, that is, aging. But in young people, memory loss is associated with other factors.

The reasons

Loss of cognitive ability can develop against the background of damage to an area of ​​the brain, or its structure. Amnesia may begin due to psychological disturbances. Factors of developing pathology:
1. Injury to the skull or brain;
2. Concussion;
3. Infectious disease;
4. Inflammatory process;
5. Alcoholism;
6. Poisoning with barbiturates;
7. Epileptic seizure;
8. Schizophrenia;
9. Alzheimer's disease;
10. Atherosclerosis;
11. Old age;
12. Psychological trauma.

Symptoms

Cognitive impairment can be recognized by the following:
- It is extremely difficult for the patient to remember any recent events (for example, yesterday), or those that have just happened (a minute or two ago).
- Loss of memories for a certain period of time. For example, a person does not remember anything before the illness, and this is called retrograde amnesia, or before injury. The patient may not remember anything what happened after the illness, and this pathology is called - anterograde amnesia. And it happens that a patient cannot remember anything during a crisis, for example, if he had a cograde memory loss, and this happens at a high temperature.
- The patient changes the absent memories for false, non-existent, invented by him.

Diagnosing pathology

First of all, the doctor examines the general clinical picture and complaints of the patient, interviews the patient's relatives and finds out if the patient's relatives had amnesia, because the disease can be hereditary. For accurate diagnosis, the patient is assigned several examinations and procedures, including: electroencephalography, MRI, biochemical blood test, CT of the brain and analysis of cerebrospinal fluid.

Therapy

Pathological memory loss is treated in a complex way, and it consists in the following procedures: medicines (biostimulants and B vitamins, adaptogens and nootropics); psychotherapeutic assistance to the patient; complete rejection of those drugs that affect memory, and these are antipsychotics and antidepressants.

Preventive measures

It is extremely important not only for a sick person, but also for a healthy person to monitor their diet, control psychological and physical stress. You should not self-medicate and take medications on the recommendation of friends. For any ailment, it is better to seek qualified help from a therapist.