Amnesia is a type of disease that causes people to forget things. People with negligence often have difficulty learning new things and remembering the past. They can’t even remember the facts and thoughts they used to know well. They might sometimes forget who they are and who their loved ones are, even though a person’s ability to remember keeps worsening as they age. Amnesia can cause a significant drop in mental power and a loss of the ability to remember new knowledge.
Symptoms seen in amnestic people include:
The main sign of amnesia is a significant loss of memory or a decrease in memory power and the failure to make new memories stick. The person might have difficulty remembering things about known events, places, or people.
The person might have difficulty remembering what they ate for breakfast on the same day. Even though the person can keep their movement skills, they can’t keep their speed and ease when they talk. Amnesia comes in many forms, like retrograde, anterograde, and temporary global amnesia.
Retrograde Amnesia:
People with retrograde amnesia often forget things they just learned. In this disorder, the person frequently disregards recent events that they have already learned. The older memories are gradually changing. Some illnesses, like dementia, can also cause people to forget things from the past.
Anterograde Amnesia:
A person is generally labeled with Anterograde Amnesia when they can’t make new memories. This problem can have a short-term effect on the person. For example, a person drinking too much can lose consciousness. It can be permanent if the conditions are right. This blackout also occurs when a part of the brain, the hippocampus, gets hurt. This part of the brain is primarily responsible for making memories.
Transient Global Amnesia:
It makes it hard for the person to think clearly. In an instance of Transient Global Amnesia, a person’s confusion or anger comes and goes over several hours. The patient might lose his or her memory a few hours before the attack, and you might not remember what happened. Because of the blocked blood veins that bring blood to the brain, this disease can cause attacks that look like seizures. This problem is more likely for people in their 50s and 60s.
Infantile Amnesia:
This is simply childhood amnesia, meaning most people don’t remember the first three to five years of their lives.
What causes amnesia:
Dementia:
Memory power and the ability to remember things depend on a person’s age. The older a person is, the less able they are to remember things. Some brain damage or confusion makes it hard for the brain to hold on to old memories. Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia often cause these changes in the brain. So the risk of backward forgetfulness is always there for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Hippocampus damage:
The hippocampus is the brain’s part in making and keeping memories. Its job is to make new memories and keep old knowledge and memories. And getting this information back when needed. The cells in the hippocampus use up more of the brain’s energy and are weak, making them more likely to get hurt.
They are more likely to die from a lack of oxygen and are hurt by pollution. Because of the damage, it might be hard for the person to make and store new memories. If the hippocampus cells in both brain areas are damaged, the person might be at risk for Anterograde amnesia.
Head and brain injuries:
When a person has some kind of head trauma, like an injury, stroke, or illness, the brain tends to be hurt more, which can cause them to lose their memories. This damage can be short-term or long-term, which affects how long the brain problem will last. Damage to the brain can mess up a person’s memory for the rest of their life or a few hours, days, or weeks.
Use of alcohol:
When you drink more alcohol than is needed or suggested, you may pass out, leading to short-term memory loss. This is a short-term case of anterograde amnesia; the person will feel better soon. But drinking alcohol for an extended period can manage Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, which makes it hard to make new memories. The person doesn’t know he has this problem and feels fine.
Some stressful or traumatic events:
Stress and happiness are both parts of life. Traumas or stress can sometimes cause a person to feel much more pain than they thought. This can also make it hard to remember things. In this disease, the person’s mind rejects ideas, emotions, or knowledge they used to love.
It can also cause certain forgetfulness, such as a desire for unplanned travel and rambling, called “dissociative fugue.” The person only knows that he has to move around and not stay in one place. He has forgotten all the other information.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT):
The patient may have retrograde forgetfulness for a few days or weeks while he is getting Electroconvulsive treatment for depression along with other mental health problems. And this generally goes away two weeks after it starts.
How to Treat Amnesia
The first step in treating amnesia is to find out what caused it in the first place. If amnesia is caused by chemicals, like too much booze or drugs, the body needs to be cleansed to fix the problem. When the drug that caused it leaves the body, the body and mental power return to normal.
If a minor head injury causes forgetfulness, it usually disappears in a few days. You don’t need to do anything special to treat it. In the case of severe accidents and stressful events, the effects don’t go away entirely over time, but they do get better up to nine months after the event.
If dementia causes memory loss, then it can’t be fixed. It can only get better with time and the right medicines and treatments. If you have trouble remembering things repeatedly, your doctor may suggest you go to occupational therapy. This will assist the patient in learning new skills and skills that will help them in their everyday lives.