'Where did I put my glasses?'
5/16/2024 by Melissa Bogin, M.D.
Memory concerns are common as people age. Many people commonly struggle to recall a person's name or find where they put their glasses. It may require more effort to remember things, and people may need to write information down. However, these memory issues should not impair a person's ability to live and function independently. Memory issues that affect people's daily lives are abnormal and could represent an underlying medical problem or developing dementia.
When should you be concerned about your memory or the memory of your loved one? Here are a few warning signs
- Memory problems in people with certain medical conditions, such as recurrent strokes.
- Memory problems in people with a strong family history of dementia, such as Alzheimer's Disease.
- Prominent changes to personality.
- Difficulty or inability to perform familiar tasks, such as baking an old family recipe.
- Getting lost in familiar places, especially while driving a car.
- Not remembering how to drive to a familiar place (church, family member's house, store or doctor's office).
- Persistent and frequent word substitutions (for example, calling a "dog" a "horse").
- Persistent and frequent word-finding difficulties (unable to find the right word despite adequate time to do so).
- Asking recurrent questions about the same topic.
- Difficulty or inability to balance a checkbook, pay bills or do other complex cognitive tasks that you were previously able to perform.
In addition to dementia, other possible causes for memory problems include untreated or undertreated depression or anxiety, thyroid problems, obstructive sleep apnea, substance use problems (such as alcohol or stimulants), certain vitamin deficiencies and medication side effects, among others. Stressful life circumstances can also worsen memory problems.
If there are concerns about your memory, talk to your healthcare clinician for further evaluation.
Melissa Bogin, M.D., is a board-certified Internist and geriatrician-in-training in Community Internal Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Her clinical interests include caring for older adults in both the outpatient and nursing home settings.