Amnesia is the loss of recent or old memory, which can occur in whole or in part. Amnesia can last for a few minutes or hours and disappear without treatment or can lead to permanent memory loss.
The existing types of amnesia are:
- Retrograde amnesia: When a head injury leads to memory loss immediately before the trauma;
- Anterograde amnesia: It is the loss of memory for recent events, causing the patient to only be able to remember old events;
- Post-traumatic amnesia: When a head trauma leads to a loss of memory of the events that occurred immediately after the trauma.
Alcoholics and malnourished people may have an unusual form of amnesia, due to the lack of vitamin B1, known as Wernicke-Korsakoff, which is the combination of a state of acute mental confusion and more prolonged amnesia. These tend to show unsteady gait, paralysis of eye movements, double vision, mental confusion and drowsiness. The loss of memory in these cases is serious.
What causes amnesia
The main causes of amnesia are:
- Head trauma;
- Taking certain medications, such as amphotericin B or lithium;
- Vitamin deficiencies, especially thiamine;
- Alcoholism;
- Hepatic encephalitis;
- Stroke;
- Cerebral infection;
- Convulsions;
- Brain tumour;
- Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
There are many Foods to Improve Memory, which are defined by scientists as ideal for preserving the proper functioning of the brain and also stimulating brain activity.
Treatment for amnesia
Treatment for amnesia will depend on the cause and its severity. In most cases, psychological counseling and cognitive rehabilitation are indicated so that the patient learns to deal with memory loss and stimulates other types of memory to compensate for what has been lost.
The treatment also aims to make the patient develop strategies to live with memory loss, especially in cases of permanent loss.
Amnesia has a cure?
Amnesia is curable in cases of transient or partial loss, where there was no permanent brain injury, but in cases of severe brain injury, memory loss can be permanent.
In both cases, psychological treatment and cognitive rehabilitation can be done, where the patient will learn ways to live with the new reality and develop strategies to stimulate the remaining memory, making up for what has been lost.
Anterograde amnesia can be prevented or minimized, through some preventive measures, such as:
- Wear a helmet when riding a bicycle, motorcycle or when playing extreme sports;
- Always wear a seat belt when driving;
- Avoid abuse of alcoholic beverages and illicit drugs.
In the case of any head trauma, brain infections, strokes or aneurysms, the patient should be referred immediately to the emergency department of the hospital so that brain injuries are properly treated.
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