“Two elderly men were sitting on a bench outside a private hospital talking; One man said to the other, ‘Why do you keep coming to see your wife everyday, when she doesn’t remember you? He replied, ‘Yes, but I can remember her’.”
MEMORY loss can be a symptom of any type of dementia.
For people with Alzheimer’s disease, it is often among the very first signs.
A person may not be able to create new memories, with recent events not being able to be recalled.
Sometimes this may take longer and may need more time to find that information readily.
We all suffer from a little memory loss as we get older – words or places, numbers or events , things that have happened in the past. This is just a part of a slow decline of our memory as we age.
But those that suffer from Alzheimer’s disease have a far more troubled mind, whereby they may forget appointments, have difficulty remembering to take their medication and many other things associated with living well.
Memories play strange tricks, where they may remember certain things from long ago yet things happening five minutes ago can’t be recalled.
There have been many people affected by this insidious disease – many have been professional people used to using their brain and have succumbed to its vagaries.
However, like all things in life, it appears to be like a lottery – events happen to some and not others.
But why? It’s a question that we ask ourselves, yet we don’t have an answer.
Carers too can be affected in a different way – someone who has this disease can be continually stressed.
There are times when an accident causes memory loss – people who suffer this trauma may lose a big chunk of their past memory.
But as time goes on there will be many more living till a ripe old age in the community due to the advent of new medicines, cures, better hospital care, eating well and not smoking, while physically looking after themselves a lot better.
Maybe one day a cure, for all ills.
