The Tangled Neuron

Got Memory Loss? A Different Approach

So you have memory loss.  Maybe serious memory loss.  Of course you should pay attention to your health and make necessary arrangements.  But maybe the best thing you can do is pay attention to life.

While some scientists work to identify pharmaceutical treatments for memory loss, others are working to test whether activities such as painting, playing an instrument or dancing are beneficial.  Don Moyer, his wife Jenny Knaus (diagnosed with Alzheimer's) and Renee Beard, a geriatric sociologist, have collaborated to develop a database of the latter type of research.  The resulting information is available on Dancing Away Memory Blues, Don's blog.

On the blog, Don, Jenny and Renee list and summarize published studies on how activities in each of six categories (music, visual arts, drama, dance, mixed and other) can enhance the lives (and maybe improve the health) of people with memory loss.

If you need an excuse to learn to play the harmonica, or take up painting, this is it!

Grand Rounds is Up

Grand Rounds is up at Shrink Rap, with an interesting set of links wrapped into an iPhone theme!

The first two links are about using iPhones in medicine.  These posts are mostly for healthcare professionals, but it brings up a question for people with memory loss.  Would you use a phone or other small device for any of the following?  Do you already use your phone for some of these?

• Reminders for medicine, appointments or tasks
• Maps/navigation
• Store and display directions or notes
• Other?

Or, as some have said, do these devices (smart phones, PDAs, etc.) take too much work to program and use?

8 Practical Tips for Living with Memory Loss

I turned 50 last year.  Given my family history of dementia, I was not happy to read that as many as half of people my age and older have some memory loss. 

I've noticed my already poor navigation skills have declined lately, and I can't multitask the way I used to.  It's not just me - my friends complain about missing appointments, bouncing checks and forgetting words.  Even worse, they lose the calendars and smartphones that are supposed to keep them on track!

Modern medicine doesn't have a cure for memory loss, at least not yet.  Without a medical fix, are there things we can do to make living with memory loss easier?  I posed that question to some of my friends with more serious memory loss.  Here are some of their practical ideas that make sense to me:

1.  Experiment with a whiteboard for orientation and reminders. Use to record the date, where family members are, appointments, reminders, etc.

Surgery, Anesthesia and Memory Loss

Summary:  After surgery, many people experience short-term delirium and/or longer-term cognitive decline.  Scientists are still studying how to prevent these problems.

Doctors, families and patients report that surgery seems to cause short-term delirium and/or longer term memory loss in some people.

In a recent Duke University study of 1064 patients undergoing major surgery (but not heart surgery), neuropsychological tests showed the following rates of post-operative cognitive dysfunction or POCD:

Age range                  Leaving hospital      3 Months After Surgery

18-39 year olds                 37%                                 6%     

40-59 year olds                 30%                                 6%

60 or older                         41%                               13%

Zhongcong Xie, M.D., Ph.D.

Even higher rates of POCD have been reported after heart surgery, but scientists still don't agree on how to measure these problems, or on whether the heart patients also had memory loss before their surgeries.

Dr. Zhongcong Xie, Assistant Professor at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, is working with his colleagues to determine what causes POCD.

POCD seems to be worse among the elderly, but "the reason why age is a risk factor for POCD remains to be determined," Dr. Xie says.  In his lab, he and his colleagues are researching