A memory lapse isn't necessarily from dementia

[00:00:00] Host Amber Smith: Here's some expert advice from geriatrics chief, Dr. Sharon Brangman from Upstate Medical University's Center of Excellence for Alzheimer's disease. Do memory problems signal dementia?

[00:00:13] Sharon Brangman, MD: Memory problems, we have learned, are one of the biggest concerns that people have as they get older. And they automatically think if they have a memory problem, that they have dementia or Alzheimer's disease. And so that often makes people so afraid it paralyzes them, and they don't do anything about it, or they make up excuses.

But what we want people to know is that not every memory problem is dementia or Alzheimer's disease. It could be related to a number of things that it would be good to get it evaluated so that we can address them. And then if it turns out to be something like a dementia, it's better to catch it as early as possible because the current treatments are most effective in the early stages. And then we also find that families and caregivers benefit from education and support services, and the patient can actually participate in making decisions for themselves and other things because then down the line, we don't want people to be in a crisis when their options are limited.

There are a lot of things that can happen as we get older that can have a negative impact on our memory, but it doesn't mean that you have dementia. So what we try to do is optimize someone's health and tell them what they can do to reduce their risk, if we find that they don't actually have a real memory problem.

Now, there are certain memory changes that happen as we get older that are completely normal, and that's when people get nervous. So, for example, it takes us maybe a little bit longer to remember someone's name. You meet someone at a party, or if you're out in the grocery store and you see someone coming, and you suddenly can't remember their name. You can remember other things about them and where you knew them from, but you just can't remember their name. And then, about a half an hour later or something, maybe you're driving home and you remember their name. That's called slow retrieval. That's actually normal as we get older.

So I like to tell my patients, it's like your brain is a big computer full of information. And as you get older, it has more and more pieces of information. It can take a little bit longer to dig through those files in your brain and pull out that name. So that doesn't necessarily mean you have dementia. That's called slow retrieval. That's OK. Or you might forget where you put your glasses, your cell phone, your keys, and you're looking all over for them. Generally, as we get older, we are thinking of too many things at the same time. So when you put your cell phone down, you don't remember where you put it. But if you sit and think for a minute, you can retrace your steps and find it.

So what we're doing generally, most of us, is that we're on overload. We get so much information. We have breaking news, we have big newspapers to read on the weekend. I probably have too much information about the Kardashians in my brain. So we get all these idle, useless pieces of information, and they take up room. So that is not necessarily dementia. That means we're not focusing on the task at hand. We're thinking of too many things at once. So that's some of the things that we talk about with patients and families and reassure them what's normal and what may not be normal.

These are the things we all worry about. These are the everyday concerns, and it's not necessarily dementia.

[00:04:04] Host Amber Smith: You've been listening to Dr. Sharon Brangman from Upstate Medical University's Center of Excellence for Alzheimer's Disease.