Forgetting is normal for every human being, and this habit becomes more prominent as we start to age. With progressive ageing, the human brain takes longer to learn, and elderly people start to lose things more frequently or even have trouble remembering the name of a person or place. This phenomenon is especially more frequent in elders that have aged or have mobility issues. Home domiciliary care services in Birmingham can help them in providing professional caregiving services at such crucial times of their lives. But how can we know if this is just age-related forgetfulness or is something more serious like Alzheimer’s disease?
Reasons for Loss of Memory
While memory loss can happen at any stage of life, it is mostly associated with older or elderly people. Several reasons point to memory loss, but not all of them point to Alzheimer’s disease. Some of the common reasons listed are:
- Certain traumatic or stressful life experiences or anxiety and depression may lead to loss of memory. Certain events, like losing a loved one or having a major change in life, can lead to extreme stress. Coping with such stresses may result in forgetting things or feeling lost and confused. Taking help from family or support from home domiciliary care services can help in reducing such stress and coping with issues creating that stress.
- Most people are subjected to various medications that produce a negative effect due to side effects and cause memory loss. Additionally, medical conditions like head injuries, substance abuse, addictions or any other condition may also lead to loss of memory if not taken into serious consideration.
Potential Signs of Alzheimer’s disease
- Memory loss that starts to disrupt daily life activities.
- Difficulty in planning or making decisions.
- Difficulty completing regular tasks like paying bills or using a computer.
- Difficulty remembering time, names, things, or places.
- Having difficulty in understanding visual cues or maintaining relationships.
- Halting in the middle of a conversation or trouble connecting words or sentences.
- Difficulty in speaking or writing
- Frequently misplacing and difficulty in tracking them.
- Poor judgment.
- Withdrawal from activities and changes in behaviors, mood, or personality.
While not all these signs begin to manifest at the same time, some of them can emerge later in life while some have a protracted course. While home domiciliary care services help a person out in this matter by giving care services to them. There is a far better chance of recovery if professional help is taken at the right time.
Types of Normal Memory Problems
Absent-mindedness:
This form of forgetfulness usually occurs due to the lack of focus on a certain event. A person forgets where they put their stuff because they cannot focus where they put the thing as the brain did not encode the signal. It also involves forgetting something on a timeline, like taking medications or attending an event. Professional domiciliary care services help care for people who suffer from forgetfulness.
Blockage:
This problem involves the temporary inability of a person to recall or retrieve a memory. For example, the answer to a question might be on the tip of the tongue but they do not seem to remember how to think or convey it. Most researchers think that blockage has more association with old age, and so domiciliary care services in Birmingham help them out in a professional way.
Transience:
This problem stems from the tendency to forget any information soon after learning it or forgetting any universal fact or event. While some researchers treat it as a problem, others specify that it is a way for the brain to wash away unused memories and make way for new ones.
Persistence:
While memory problems mean forgetting about memories, sometimes there are memories that a person cannot forget even if they try to. Certain traumatic events or negative feelings may produce harmful effects on memory or reflect the negative realities of life. Such a person tends to be more open to depression and home domiciliary care services in this regard need to work on providing them with necessary care and consideration.
Final Word
There are people with problems of memory loss around us, and if, in any case, we identify any one of them, it is of utmost importance that they are provided with necessary help. If they are among our family and friends, providing domiciliary care services will help them cope with their issues. While it might not be like a walk in the park for both the person and care provider to handle them, working alongside them will give them the support they need. It is always a recommendation to seek professional help if the case has pointed to a more serious case of forgetfulness or in worse cases Alzheimer.
