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The Difference Between Alzheimer’s And Amnesia

The Difference Between Alzheimer’s And Amnesia

The content of this article is approved by “drhealthandbeauty” experts.
Note: This article is only to guide and increase your knowledge. Before taking any action, you can consult “drhealthandbeauty” doctors or your doctor for treatment.

Are you suffering from Alzheimer’s or forgetful? You may have trouble remembering what you did or the things you moved during a stressful day when you had a lot of pressure from life or work. And this incident will repeat itself many times and cause you to worry about getting Alzheimer’s.

Or, after a tiring day of work, you realize that your furniture has been moved, and you find your watch in the closet or see the plates and spoons in the garbage bag.

Sometimes, young people who suffer from amnesia symptoms mention Alzheimer’s as amnesia symptoms. In contrast, forgetfulness in young people is more caused by anxiety, worry and stress, which affects concentration and memory power. Still, they mistake these symptoms with amnesia disease. They take

Therefore, it is necessary to have a definitive answer to these types of concerns.

In this detailed and scientific article from Drhealthandbeauty by Dr Sanaz, we have addressed your concern about the difference between Alzheimer’s and amnesia to put your mind at ease forever and bring you back to focus.

Table of Contents
Mysterious cluster of amnesia cases alarms health officials

The difference between Alzheimer’s and amnesia at a glance

In this section, we will introduce you to the difference between forgetfulness and Alzheimer’s through a table that outlines different factors.

We add these explanations to the table above:

Alzheimer’s symptoms become more severe with age, But the severity of amnesia symptoms remains the same throughout the period.

Amnesia is featured by memory loss, while Alzheimer’s is a progressive neurological illness that affects memory, cognition, and behaviour.

In some cases, amnesia can be treated, but Alzheimer’s is an incurable disease as there is no cure yet.

Maybe you have a question: “Why Can’t We Cure Alzheimer’s Disease?“. We have discussed this issue in detail in the relevant article and explained the future perspective.

There are many types of dementia, but there is only one type, Alzheimer’s.

Amnesia only affects a person’s mental state, while Alzheimer’s affects a person’s mental, emotional, and physical state.

Alzheimer’s is primarily age-related, while amnesia can be caused by a variety of causes, including brain damage, infection, or psychological factors.

Amnesia is a disease that has no age limit, while Alzheimer’s usually occurs in old age.

Alzheimer’s And Amnesia

What is Amnesia?

To know the difference between Alzheimer’s and amnesia, it is necessary to know more details about amnesia. When a patient experiences amnesia, it means that he has lost part or all of his memory. Although the disease is not inherent, it may harm us at any stage of life. People who suffer from this problem have a somewhat difficult life. They forget things they have recently heard, read or learned. Also, when they are unexpectedly asked about a simple issue, they cannot say anything about it.

This condition occurs when a certain part of the human brain is damaged by dementia, reduced oxygen levels, severe head injuries, past traumatic experiences, excessive alcohol consumption, and even certain medications. There are four different types of amnesia, each of which has different symptoms. Fortunately, they are often treatable with medication and educational support.

“Forgetfulness” has no age limit, and the memory of most young people, adults and the elderly may be affected by mental distress in stressful life situations.

These days, many young people visit psychiatrists’ offices with memory disorders and forgetfulness, and they mistakenly interpret this condition as “Alzheimer’s”. These people often complain about lack of concentration in work and fleeting forgetfulness, while occasional forgetfulness is often a reaction to the existing conditions of society and the stress and busyness of life because the information in people’s minds is not calm and focused, and the breakdown of concentration caused by mental distress, The information is not well registered, and therefore information recall does not happen, in other words, the process of Register & Recall of information is disrupted.

The treatment of forgetfulness involves using techniques to strengthen memory, focus the mind, and meditate. As people’s minds become more relaxed and focused, the process of recording and remembering information improves.

Forgetfulness can occur for many reasons, but they generally fall into two main categories: neurological causes and psychological causes. By understanding the symptoms, you can understand the difference between Alzheimer’s and forgetfulness.

Neurological causes of amnesia

  • All include brain damage or brain dysfunction. Possible reasons include (but are not limited to):
  • Alcohol poisoning
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Brain aneurysms
  • Brain tumours (including cancerous and non-cancerous tumours)
  • Cerebral hypoxia (brain damage caused by lack of oxygen)
  • Medications (especially sedatives and certain anaesthetics), including the use of over-the-counter medications
  • Epilepsy and seizures (especially temporal lobe epilepsy)
  • Frontotemporal amnesia
  • Head injuries like concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI)
  • Infections (especially those that cause encephalitis, such as herpes simplex virus)
  • Other degenerative brain diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • stroke
  • Toxins such as carbon monoxide poisoning or heavy metal poisoning
  • Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, which occurs due to a severe deficiency of vitamin B1.

Psychological causes of forgetfulness

Memory loss can also occur in association with mental health issues. Examples include dissociative disorders, especially dissociative amnesia, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These usually involve a traumatic event or severe mental or emotional distress. Experts don’t fully understand why this happens, but they suspect it’s the brain’s way of protecting itself from psychological damage.

The Difference Between Alzheimer’s And Amnesia 1458

Alzheimer’s

Although by now you have become familiar with the difference between Alzheimer’s and amnesia, it is necessary to know that Alzheimer’s which is known as one of the types of cognitive disorders., unlike amnesia, mainly affects elderly people. Although the exact reason for this disease has not yet been determined, researchers believe that in old age, amino acids stop working, and this problem slowly damages the human brain’s neurons. Another rare cause is a gene mutation inherited from parents.

The main symptoms of Alzheimer’s include:

  • Confusion.
  • Forgetting recent conversations.
  • Forgetting family members and friends.
  • Difficulty reaching a specific destination.
  • Difficulty paying cash.

Therefore, knowing the answer to the question: “How To Know If You Are Developing Alzheimer’s?” It will be very important.

It may also cause changes in the patient’s personality and mood. For example, the patient may blame others for taking their personal belongings due to forgetfulness.

Usually, the severity of Alzheimer’s disease worsens as the ageing process continues. Finally, a moment comes when the patient cannot remember and recognize anything or anyone. Of course, trauma and an unhealthy lifestyle can also lead to this.

According to doctors, At the end of life, patients with Alzheimer’s, like Parkinson’s, cannot maintain their body balance and do simple tasks such as eating. This can be one of the hardest parts about having Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Therefore, the difference between Alzheimer’s and amnesia is significant.

Alzheimer’s is the most common irreversible dementia. Alzheimer’s is one of the diseases of the elderly, and due to the increase in the life expectancy of people and the improvement of life expectancy in different societies, its prevalence statistics are increasing; for this reason, Alzheimer’s is referred to as the disease of the century.

 Alzheimer’s affects the whole brain, and brain cells are destroyed. With the destruction of each neuron in the brain, a neuron does not take its place, so the sufferers’ brain slowly shrinks, and this process of shrinking the brain is called “atrophy”. In other words, the brain slowly loses its cells, and after that, the grooves of the brain become more open, and the brain tissue decreases.

Alzheimer’s: The general song is the gradual destruction of the brain, during which the process of shrinking, shrinking and reducing the volume of the brain is completely evident through brain imaging with MRI and CT scan methods.

With the onset of Alzheimer’s, short-term memory is slowly affected and gradually spreads to the distant past; in other words, when a person’s memory has problems, the story of Alzheimer’s begins.

Signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive condition, meaning that symptoms develop gradually over years and eventually become more severe. The first symptom of Alzheimer’s disease is usually minor memory problems. As the disease progresses, memory problems become more severe, and other symptoms can develop, such as:

  • Confusion and getting lost in familiar places
  • Difficulty planning or making decisions
  • Speech and language problems
  • Difficulty moving or performing self-care tasks
  • Personality changes such as aggression and suspicion of others
  • Hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren’t there) and delusions (believing things that aren’t real)
  • Low mood or anxiety
alzheimer-illness-concept-elderly-woman-600nw-2174794481

What is the main difference between forgetfulness and Alzheimer’s?

Therefore, according to the points mentioned about the difference between Alzheimer’s and amnesia, it should be said that:

  • There is no specific age limit for developing amnesia. However, Alzheimer’s primarily affects the elderly.
  • Forgetfulness often has specific treatment methods, but Alzheimer’s is incurable.
  • Forgetfulness does not get worse with time. But Alzheimer’s symptoms worsen with age.
  • Forgetfulness has four different categories. But Alzheimer’s is only one type.
  • Forgetting only affects a person’s memory. However, Alzheimer’s affects both physical functioning and mental health.

Similarity of Alzheimer’s and forgetfulness

  • Both amnesia and Alzheimer’s have memory loss as a common symptom.
  • Both of these diseases cause mental dysfunction.
  • Both amnesia and Alzheimer’s can be a permanent condition.

How do we distinguish between amnesia and Alzheimer’s in the elderly?

The diagnosis of amnesia and Alzheimer’s should be made by a specialist doctor because amnesia, or the loss of short-term to long-term memory, is one of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

To diagnose amnesia, a doctor will perform a comprehensive evaluation to rule out other possible reason for  memory loss, such as Alzheimer’s disease, other forms of dementia, depression, or a brain tumor. In this way, it uses the patient’s medical history, physical examination, cognitive tests, blood tests, imaging tests including MRI and CT scan and electroencephalogram or EEG.

The doctor emphasizes physical examination, the family history of the patient and the results of memory and thinking skills evaluation tests to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. Lab tests and imaging results are usually used to rule out other potential reasons for dementia. Because simple imaging tests do not have the power to show the plaques and nodules created in the brain due to Alzheimer’s.

FAQ

What is the difference between Alzheimer’s and forgetfulness?

Alzheimer’s is a specific degenerative brain disease that causes dementia. While forgetfulness refers to a decrease in memory power, and in addition to dementia, other things such as stroke and head trauma are involved in its occurrence. So, forgetfulness can be one of the early symptoms of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s.

Is it possible to be forgetful and not have Alzheimer’s?

Yes, you can be forgetful and not have any kind of dementia because many factors can cause forgetfulness.

Which specialist doctor should be consulted to know the difference between Alzheimer’s and amnesia?

Certainly, a neurologist has more information, experience and expertise in the field of diagnosis and treatment of these brain disorders.

conclusion

Forgetfulness can be one of the early symptoms of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s. These two diseases both affect a person’s memory and cause mental dysfunction.

It is difficult to diagnose Alzheimer’s or false dementia, so the elderly should reduce their stress and raise their mood to reduce the severity of symptoms. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s, but fortunately, drugs have entered the market that control the progress of the disease, so The sooner the disease is diagnosed by the people around, the sooner the referral controls the progression of the disease.

By knowing the differences between Alzheimer’s and forgetfulness, they can be separated. These two diseases are different in terms of age of onset, method of treatment, affected organs, degree of progress and types. If you see symptoms of diseases, see a specialist doctor.

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Author and specialist

Dr. Majid Zahrabi,

Neurosurgeon

  • Board Certified Neurosurgeon
  • DHA certificate holder
  • Plantation certificate holder, France
  • Certified holder of Discogol, France
  • A pioneer in the non-surgical treatment of disc herniation in the Middle East and CIS countries.
  • Under the training and coaching of Professor Jacques Theron (founder of Discogel Therapy) since 2008
  • More than 400 successful cervical and 1300 lumbar discogel injections
  • Trained and certified several neurosurgeons and spine surgeons in the Middle East and CIS countries for the treatment of Discogel
  • Strong belief in patient-centered care planning and participation
  • Neurosurgeon and spine surgeon at Imam Khomeini and Amir Mazandarani Hospital, Sari, Iran, with more than 430 surgeries annually, 2000-2011
  • Neurosurgeon and spine surgeon at Farmaniyeh, Nikan and Yas Sepid Hospital, Tehran, Iran, with more than 400 surgeries annually, 2011-2012
  • Neurosurgeon at Iranian Hospital, Dubai, 2022-2023
  • Since 2015, he has been working as a reference doctor for the treatment of intervertebral disc herniation with Discogel and has trained many doctors of spine-related specialties in various countries of the Middle East and CIS in person/practically and online.

 

Education:

  • Individual training sessions under the direct supervision of Professor Jacques Theron in Discogel treatment, 2008-2020
  • Training sessions under the supervision of Professor Thierry Boye on spinal implants, 2007
  • Participation and presentation in several national and international medical and neuro-spinal conferences
  • Board certificate by Iran Neurosurgery Board, 2001
  • Neurosurgery assistant training course, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran, 1996-2001 (In 2001, he graduated from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences with the first rank in the country.
  • His thesis the titled:The Application of human amniotic membrane in repair of dura matter in dogs.” ( It was happening for the first time in the world. )
  • General medical education, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran, 1984-1993

 

Published books:

  • CT scan of the brain for doctors
  • Etiology and treatment of painful spine disorders
  • Atlas of diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of spine disorders
  • The most common mistakes in the treatment of spinal disorders
  • Reading brain CT scan in simple language (3rd place in the book of the year)
  • Treatment of head and spine injuries

 

Publications and articles:

  • Bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects of DISCOGEL® (https://www.researchgate.net/)
  • Muscle recovery, reduction of pain, and improvement of movement strategies in patients with lumbar discopathy after injection of Discogel.
  • The article on the initial results of the treatment of intervertebral disc herniation with discogel injection, which won the second-best poster rank at the Pan Arab International Congress of Interventional Radiology (March 14-16, 2015) and was accepted for presentation at the Chicago Pain Congress.
  • The use of human amniotic membrane in dura mater repair in dogs, a study for the first time in the world.

 

Lectures:

  • Annual Congress of Physiotherapists of Iran, 2019
  • Chicago International Pain Congress, 2019
  • Iran International Pain Management Congress, 2018
  • Annual Congress of Physiotherapists of Iran, 2018
  • Presentation of Discogel as an innovative solution for the treatment of spinal disc herniation in Armenia for orthopedic specialists and neurosurgeons, 2017
  • First Live Workshop and Seminar on Minimally Invasive Disc Therapy (DISCON), 2017
  • Presentation of Discogel as an innovative solution for the treatment of spinal disc herniation in Azerbaijan for orthopedic specialists and neurosurgeons, 2016
  • Seminar of Iranian official managers, 2016
  • Presentation of Discogel as an innovative solution for the treatment of spinal disc herniation in Tajikistan for orthopedic specialists and neurosurgeons, 2016
  • International Neurological Intervention Congress in Iran, 2014
  • Educational seminar for nurses on treatment approaches for head and spine trauma, 2014
  • Educational seminar for general practitioners on treatment approaches for head and spine trauma, 2014
  • Speech at the Retraining Seminar for General Practitioners and Specialists in Dubai (Discon) in 2017
  • Speech in the internal retraining courses of Irani Hospital, Dubai
  • Holding lecture sessions and practical workshops on the treatment of intervertebral disc herniation with discogel injection in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Oman, and Armenia during the years 2015 to 2021.
  • Giving a lecture and holding a practical workshop for neurosurgeons in Vietnam at Ho Chi Minh City University in 2023

Dr. Majid Zohrabi started treating his patients in Dubai in 2022 and continues his activities in private medical centers in the UAE.