Memory Loss - How Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Help

Memory loss is an abnormal degree of forgetfulness and inability to recall past events. Depending on the cause, amnesia or other forms of memory impairment may have a gradual or sudden onset. Also, they may either be permanent or temporary. Most of the time, slight forgetfulness occurs as part of the aging process. On the other hand, it may be caused by a severe emotional trauma or brain damage following disease or physical trauma.

Types of memory loss include immediate, short-term and long-term. Short-term is characterized remembering some childhood and past events but failing to remember happenings in the past minutes. In long-term, on the other hand, patients are unable to recall any event in distant past.

Among the common causes of memory loss are the following:

-As a person gets older, he loses nerve cells even if he does not have aging-associated disease like Alzheimer's. After the age twenty-five, the body stops growing new nerve cells to replace old ones. As a result, when a person reaches the age of seventy, he will most likely not remember about one-third of this memory.

-Insufficient thiamine, vitamin B12 and protein may also lead to memory loss.

-Regardless of age, loss of memory can occur due to depression. This is among the top reasons for memory loss in elders. Mental impairment related to depression is a treatable condition.

-Damage due to free radicals can also cause loss of memory. These free radical molecules undermine other molecules around them. This destabilization results in molecular level damage to the body. Free radicals may soon damage the blood-brain barrier that separates the circulating blood and the brain. This will further damage the brain happens.

-Emotional and physical stress fuels the release of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. Continuous exposure to stress hormones results in the death of nerve cells and memory loss.

-Low estrogen levels in women also counts as a cause. Women often report a large decrease in their memory function after they undergo menopause.

For hormone-related memory loss, men and women may choose bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. Estrogen and stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline will be replenished, making sure there is adequate amount of these hormones in the body. Once these hormones are stabilized, forgetfulness will be greatly reduced.