Hey there, welcome to Life Noggin.
“Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us.”
So says Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest.
It’s a pretty accurate metaphor.
Memories hold our secrets, our feelings, and our experiences.
But what she doesn’t point out is that memories, just like diaries, can be lost.
Our thoughts and recollections of the past can be gone in an instant.
What we tend to picture when we think of memory loss is what’s known as retrograde amnesia.
Someone with retrograde amnesia can’t remember certain aspects of the past and things they
already knew.
Generally, amnesia affects a person’s short-term memory.
They’ll remember the name of their childhood dog, but might not remember what day it is
or what they were doing immediately before they lost their memory.
Amnesia can be caused by a stroke, heart attack, or head injury, just as a few examples.
Fortunately, amnesia usually resolves itself without treatment.
However, millions of people will experience some form of incurable memory loss in their
lifetime.
In fact, this year an estimated 5.5 million people in the US live with Alzheimer’s disease,
a disease that impacts the brain’s ability to form memories.
Essentially Alzheimer’s starts with a buildup of bits of a protein called beta-amyloid,
also known as plaque, in the brain.
The plaque gets in between nerve cells, and as more and more of it builds up, it damages
and kills brain cells, and Alzheimer’s progresses.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 1 in 10 people over the age of 65 has Alzheimer’s.
That’s a lot of people.
But what does memory loss mean for a person?
Is their personality gone too?
And what can be done for them?
Many researchers are asking, and answering, these questions.
Research shows that losing your memory to a disease like Alzheimer’s isn’t just
about forgetting facts you learned in school or the name of the street you grew up on.
It can progress into forgetting how to go through your daily routines like eating and
getting dressed.
Side effects of Alzheimer’s also include personality changes, ranging from apathy to
paranoia to indecision.
However, in an interview about his experience with the disease, one man who has been living
with Alzheimer’s for several years said “we’re still in there.”
But researchers’ understanding of the disease can only go so far.
They can see the effects that Alzheimer’s has on people, but typically they don’t
fully comprehend the feeling of forgetting their own life.
According to a firsthand account from one individual who was diagnosed with early-onset
Alzheimer’s, in order to imagine the disease, you should imagine waking up after a dental
procedure or a surgery—some event that involves drugs that erase your short term memory.
But also imagine that you’ve woken up in a building you don’t recognize, surrounded
by things you’ve never seen before, and you’re all alone.
Soon, people start coming into the room with you and talk to you like you’ve always known
them.
Maybe they’re your best friend or your kid or your spouse.
But you have no idea who they are.
This is terrifying and heartbreaking to imagine.
I don’t like to think about it.
But it’s reality for so many people, and it’s incredibly important to think and talk
about.
Alzheimer’s has no cure.
But we have many scientists and researchers to thank for devoting their time and work
to looking for
a cure.
As always, my name is Blocko and this has been Life Noggin.
Don’t forget to keep on thinking!