What changes about memory as people get older.
The National Institute on Aging describes what actually happens with age: changes occur throughout the body, including the brain, and some people notice they do not remember information as well as they once did and cannot recall it as quickly. They may occasionally misplace things or forget to pay a bill. NIA calls these signs of mild forgetfulness — age-related forgetfulness — which is often a normal part of aging.
It is normal to forget things once in a while at any age; serious memory problems are different in kind, because they make it hard to do everyday things such as driving, using the phone, and finding the way home. The question is not whether you forget, but whether forgetting has started taking things away from you.
What tends to prompt the question.
NIA lists signs that it might be time to talk with a doctor: asking the same questions over and over again, getting lost in places you used to know well, having trouble following recipes or directions, becoming more confused about time, people, and places, and not taking care of yourself — eating poorly, not bathing, or behaving unsafely.
There is also a middle category with a name. NIA describes mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, as more memory or thinking problems than other adults the same age, while still being able to carry out day-to-day tasks. MCI may be an early sign of Alzheimer's, but not everyone with MCI develops it: NIA estimates 10 to 20% of people 65 or older with MCI develop dementia over a one-year period, and says symptoms often stay the same or improve.
None of it tells you which category you are in, but it can make the next conversation more precise.
- What changed, and when you or someone else first noticed it.
- Whether it affects driving, bills, cooking, medicines, work, or finding your way.
- A complete list of medicines and supplements, with doses.
- What the people around you have observed — their account often differs from yours.
Normal aging and dementia are not the same road.
NIA states plainly that forgetfulness can be a normal part of aging but dementia is not. Dementia involves loss of cognitive functioning — thinking, remembering, learning, and reasoning — to the extent that it interferes with a person's quality of life and activities. Memory loss is not its only sign: NIA notes problems with language, visual perception, or attention, and sometimes personality changes. NINDS adds that although up to half of all people 85 or older may have some type of dementia, many live into their 90s and beyond without any signs of it.
NIA's own comparison turns on degree, not category. Making a bad decision once in a while is normal aging; making poor judgments a lot of the time is not. Sometimes forgetting which word to use is normal; trouble having a conversation is not.
A great many things affect memory, and some of them resolve.
This is the part that gets skipped. NIA states that memory problems can stem from factors unrelated to dementia or normal aging, and that problems caused by a condition such as depression usually go away once it is treated.
The factors NIA lists include head injury such as a concussion; blood clots, tumors, or infections in the brain; thyroid, kidney, or liver problems; medication side effects; mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety; alcohol or drug misuse; sleep problems; low levels of important nutrients such as vitamin B12; and not eating enough healthy foods. NIA adds that major or stressful life events can leave people confused or forgetful, that this is usually temporary, and that you should talk with a doctor if it persists past a few weeks.
So the honest answer to "does this mean dementia" is that the list of other explanations is long and several are treatable. NIA puts it directly: finding the cause of memory problems is important for determining the best course of action.
Confusion that arrives suddenly is a 911 question.
Everything above concerns change that unfolds over weeks or years. Sudden is different. MedlinePlus lists sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or understanding speech among the warning signs of stroke, alongside sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg, sudden trouble seeing, sudden difficulty walking, and sudden severe headache with no known cause.
Its instruction has no qualifiers: if you think you or someone else is having a stroke, call 911 right away. Every minute counts. That call comes before any clinic, including this one.
How clinicians work through it.
NIA says a doctor can perform tests and assessments to help determine the source of memory problems, and may also recommend seeing a neurologist, a doctor who specializes in diseases of the brain and nervous system.
The order matters: to diagnose dementia, NINDS says doctors first check for other treatable conditions that could cause problems with thinking or memory. The tests it lists include medical histories and physical exams; nervous system tests of balance and reflexes; brain imaging; cognitive and neuropsychological tests; laboratory tests checking chemicals, hormones, and vitamins; genetic testing; and psychiatric evaluation, which checks whether depression or another condition is responsible instead. NINDS is also candid that if those tests are negative, in many cases doctors cannot tell exactly which type of dementia a person has.
Evaluation is not a single appointment, either: NIA recommends rechecking memory every six to 12 months.
Where this practice fits, and what to ask.
Gates Brain Health publicly describes itself as providing functional neurology care in Reno, Nevada, and its published focus includes memory and brain-fog concerns. Dr. Randall Gates, D.C., DACNB is a board-certified chiropractic neurologist; he is not a medical doctor. Care here sits alongside the clinicians you already see rather than in place of them, and nothing on this page is a promise about your memory.
Whether this practice is a fit for your situation is not a decision a web page can make; that gets worked out on a call and, if it goes further, an evaluation. Call (775) 507-2000, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. There is no website form or scheduler, so please keep medical details to the phone call.
- Have the treatable causes — medicines, thyroid, B12, sleep, depression, alcohol — been looked at yet?
- Would you tell me if a neurologist or my primary care provider is the better next step?
- What would an evaluation here involve, and what would it be looking for?