7 Possible Reasons for Memory Loss

Memory loss may be caused by old age, head injury, dementia, Lyme disease, stress and depression, excessive alcohol consumption, and drug interactions.

Memory loss is the inability of one person to retrieve memories due to different factors. It can be short-term or partial, as well as long-term or permanent. The following are the most common and possible reasons for memory loss that affect people from different walks of life:

Old age

The natural cause of memory loss is old age. As you age, your brain also changes. The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of your brain, which are responsible for storing memory, shrink as you grow old, resulting to forgetfulness and memory loss.

Head injury

Head injury or trauma from a head crash, brain bruise, and skull fracture could also result to brain cell damage, causing memory loss. Most cases of memory loss caused by head injuries are typically short-term and temporary, which usually involves failing to remember what had occurred before and after the injury. These memories are usually recovered over time. Old memories, on the other hand, are not lost.

Dementia

Dementia is a general condition that affects your social, as well as intellectual faculties, including your memory. Among the different types of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common one, making up about half of dementia occurrences. It is characterized by amyloid plaque accumulation in the brain that later poisons the brain cells, causing memory loss, as well as other symptoms like difficulty in speech, and problems with judgment and reasoning. Memory loss in dementia patients may also be caused by not getting enough proper protein into the brain cells due to neurofibrillary tangles, which is described as the tangling of the long fibers in the brain cells.

Lyme disease

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted through the bite of an infected tick, usually a deer tick. If you are infected with Lyme disease that remains untreated for over a period of time, your condition may worsen from red rash and some flu-like symptoms to even worse Lyme disease symptoms. The disease spreads throughout your body, affecting your heart, your joints and muscles, as well as your nervous system, which could lead to memory loss.

Stress and depression

Slight and temporary memory loss may also be caused by too much stress, as well as depression. Under these conditions, your brain cells and your hippocampus may be damaged, making things more difficult to remember. Researchers also believe that excessive stress and depression can cause chemical or neurotransmitter imbalances that affect the ability of your brain to pass on information and store new memories.

Excessive alcohol consumption

Consuming too much alcohol also damages your brains cells, causing short-term memory loss. The condition even gets worse when you start to have black outs. Make sure you drink moderately in order to avoid temporary memory loss.

Drug interactions

Taking different prescription medications at once may interact negatively with each other and may cause memory loss as its side effects. Make sure you read the contraindications and interactions of the medicines, and be sure to inform your physician about the medicines you are taking as soon as new medicines are being prescribed in order to avoid possible negative drug interactions.

If you start to notice signs of memory loss, do not hesitate to tell your doctor about it as it could be a sign of a more serious condition or infection.