How to treat anterograde amnesia

Anterograde amnesia is a frustration that a person can not consistently reproduce the chain of events after the memory disorders that have occurred. People suffering from this form of amnesia live in a world of brief and not always logical scraps of what is happening. However, a pure picture of anterograde amnesia in real life is infrequent, usually this form of the disease is accompanied by retrograde amnesia, and memories of the distant past are also incomprehensible and incomplete, like the present.

Contents:

Causes of
Symptoms and course of the disease
Treatment of amnesia

Causes of

Anterograde memory loss refers to neurological disorders from the category of lacunar amnesia. This means that memory loss occurs partially, at certain intervals of time. The inability to perceive new events, recalling a relatively recent event and forgetfulness are characteristic features of this type of amnesia. In this case, a person can freely learn new skills.

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Anterograde amnesia is often a supplement to the clinical picture of many neurological disorders and mental illnesses. It can develop under the influence of psychogenic or organic factors. The main causes of the disease can be:

intoxication( alcoholism, drug addiction, poisoning);
complication of an infectious disease;
craniocerebral trauma( sometimes even the most minor);
disorders of the neuroendocrine system;
various mental disorders( epilepsy, oligophrenia, etc.);Age-related lesions of the brain;
diseases of a physical nature;
stresses, psychotraumatic emotional states;

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Symptoms and course of the disease

The main signs of amnesia are:

Loss of orientation in space.
No memories for a specific period.
Confusion.
Severe headaches.
Alarming states and depression.
Problems with recognizing close people and relatives.

Amnesia begins with the fact that a person loses the ability to memorize something that distracted him from everything for a couple of seconds, and subsequently recall what is happening completely and in a logical sequence. In this case, the patient preserves the so-called old memory, telling about the past( before the illness) with real priority.

This type of amnesia can last from 2 days to several months in a lighter form and up to several years in severe form. Short-term amnesia often occurs when taking tranquilizers or sleeping pills. The patient can not remember some moments of time, the name of his doctor, the current day of the week, the event that occurred, the place of his stay, new acquaintances, etc. In this case, events that occurred before the onset of the disease( retrograde amnesia) can also be erased from memory. In some cases, a person suffering from amnesia, can forget and what happened to him at the time of injury( congested form of the disease).

The worst thing about anterograde amnesia is that a sick person exposes himself to constant danger: when he goes to the store, he can not return home without help;including gas, forgets about it.

The incidence risk group includes people:

Elderly.
With diseases of the nervous system and brain.
With psychological disorders.
Postponed severe infectious diseases.

Read also about why a person's memory deteriorates and how to deal with this problem

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Treatment of amnesia

Treatment of amnesia can last from several weeks to a year( depending on the severity of the disorder) and is based mainly on eliminating the symptoms of the underlying disease, which provoked memory disorders.

In the first stage, therapy is performed in a hospital, patients are prescribed drugs that improve brain nutrition( neurotrophic, nootropic), and drugs that increase blood flow( vasoactive drugs, angioagregans).

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In addition, the complex treatment includes neuropsychological correction, as well as the effect on the brain of low intensity current. Also, methods that help improve memory are often used: oral account, solving crossword puzzles, etc. During the period of therapy, the patient must be under the strict supervision of a psychologist, neurologist and psychiatrist. After discharge, the patient must undergo regular medical examinations until the symptoms of amnesia disappear completely.

In addition to traditional medicine, some patients resort to non-traditional methods of treatment, for example, psychoanalysis or hypnosis, but their effectiveness is not proven.

At the initial stage of the disorder, the patient should be provided with neuropsychological correction and proper pharmacotherapy. People aged need to provide psychological and pedagogical support, that is, to create conditions for the successful self-realization of the patient and a feeling of less discomfort due to aging.