Forgetfulness; It is a permanent and often progressive clinical picture in terms of its natural course, which causes the deterioration of more than one cognitive area without clouding of consciousness as a result of damage to the adult central nervous system due to acquired reasons, and related activities of daily living cannot be continued at the same level as before. Decrease in cognitive skills such as memory, attention, language skills, and visual-spatial functions is the picture we encounter in forgetfulness. There is forgetfulness in 35-50% of them.
With a rough calculation, dementia will be detected in 60% of the elderly who have the complaint of forgetfulness.
Forgetfulness is a problem that results from memory impairment, one of the most important functions of our brain, which causes limitations in one's activities. . Since it may be the first sign of dementia, especially in the elderly, it should be taken seriously. With aging, people may have a moderate forgetfulness. This condition, called "age-related forgetfulness", does not cause any disease unless it progresses.
However, such patients should be followed up periodically because this forgetfulness, if it progresses, may be a sign of serious diseases.
Psychiatric problems often lie behind the forgetfulness seen in younger people. For example, the stress, depression and tension brought by today's city and working life cause forgetfulness by impairing concentration and orientation from brain functions. On the other hand, some vitamin deficiencies, goiter diseases, brain tumors, blockages in the cerebral vessels, cerebral hemorrhages, MS and many other diseases also show themselves with forgetfulness. As a result, ongoing forgetfulness is a finding that deserves to be investigated medically.
Mild cognitive impairment - pre-dementia condition
When forgetfulness in the elderly turns from mild to more obvious, the picture called "mild cognitive impairment-MCD" arises. This condition should now be treated as a disease, because it is the early stage of many dementias and needs attention and investigation.
In this case, the annual dementia conversion rate is 10%; that is, 1 out of 10 MCI patients becomes dementia the following year. S� As the �re increases, this ratio also increases. In order to reveal this situation, "neuropsychological tests" that evaluate detailed memory and other brain functions should be performed.
In Which Conditions of Forgetfulness Should Be Worried?
Any forgetfulness in old age should be seen and followed up by a neurologist, psychiatrist or geriatrician.
Forgetfulness should be taken more seriously in people who have progressively increasing forgetfulness, inability to find a way other than forgetfulness, inability to do arithmetic, introversion, having vivid dreams, who have Alzheimer's disease in their family, who have had a stroke, who have had serious accidents. A more rigorous examination is required as existing diseases may underlie the forgetfulness in people with a known neurological disease (such as cerebrovascular disease, MS, epilepsy) or other medical diseases (such as diabetes, heart attack, any cancer).
How Is Forgetfulness Evaluated?
First, the physician listens to the patient's complaints, obtains the entire medical history, and then, after talking to a relative who knows the patient well, determines the effect of forgetfulness in daily life. The relative who knows the patient best does not always have to be a member of the family. In some cases, this person may be someone else, such as a neighbor, a caregiver at home, a grocer in the neighborhood. The type and severity of forgetfulness are measured with a set of tests. After these tests, if the physician deems it necessary, he may request laboratory and other tests (Tomography, EEG, lumbar puncture, SPECT, PET, blood-urine tests, etc.). In some cases, simple vitamin deficiencies (B12 and folic acid) or goiter diseases can also cause forgetfulness, so blood tests for these should also be done. Together with all the examinations, the physician reaches a clinical judgment and reaches the diagnosis.
MR scan takes about 20-30 minutes and the patient should not move at all during the shooting. People with claustrophobia often cannot undergo MRI. Patients with constant movement or claustrophobia should be treated with a diaphragm instead of MRI. Another examination, computed tomography, can be performed. Although this is a shorter and more comfortable method, it does not provide as detailed information as MRI.
What are the Differences Between Alzheimer's Disease and Forgetfulness?
Alzheimer's disease is the most common dementia disease. observed disorder. His first finding is FORGOTTEN. Over time, this forgetfulness is accompanied by the inability to find direction, dressing, urinary incontinence, judgment and various behavioral disorders.
Although this disease is not a new disease, the number of patients is increasing. This is due to the fact that the most important risk factor for this disease is "aging-advanced age". Today, people aged 65 and over constitute the fastest growing age group all over the world (especially in developed countries and welfare societies).
The incidence of Alzheimer's disease increases with age (8 out of 100 people over 65 years of age have Alzheimer's disease). Aging is inevitable. Today, it is thought that there are around 230 thousand Alzheimer's patients in Turkey and this number will unfortunately increase in the future.
Because in 2000, the population over the age of 65 in Turkey nearly doubled in 5 years and approached the level of 4 million. As a country where the young population will age gradually, it would not be illusory to say that this disease will be the most important health problem in 30-40 years in Turkey. Early diagnosis and even pre-diagnosis evaluation are of great importance in order to take various preventive measures and because the current treatments are effective in the early period. It happens because the cells die earlier than programmed (brain cell death occurs in every person with age, but this process happens very quickly and early in Alzheimer's disease). With cell death, the brain begins to shrink and shrink slowly (see figure 1) Alzheimer's disease is not a contagious disease, it is not a cancer disease. Although very rare (about 5 out of 100 patients), hereditary forms were present, but they are rare.
The most important risk factors for the disease
- Age (non-modifiable factor)
- Depression in the past (modifiable tor)
- Vascular diseases (Heart attack, high blood pressure, high cholesterol) modifiable factors
- Serious head injuries in the past
- Low education level
- We should take care of our general health.
- We should age healthy.
- Blood Pressure Since heart disease risks such as high cholesterol, high cholesterol are also risk factors for dementia, we should have it under control.
- We should do mental activity. We should solve puzzles, sudoku, read books.
- We should walk regularly and keep our bodies fit.
- We should eat regularly. We should consume liquid oils instead of solid fats, we should eat foods with green vegetables more.
- We should be treated especially if there are psychiatric diseases such as depression.
- We should not consume excessive alcohol. With the principle that 1 glass of red wine a day is good for cardiovascular diseases, we should not drink more than this amount of alcohol and preferably drink red wine.
What should we do to be protected?
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