What were we talking about again?
I say that sometimes. As someone who has dementia, I am quickly learning what it’s like to forget.
Now where was I?
Oh yes, what we were talking about. Asking that question is 9 times out of 10 helpful to jog the memory and get the conversation renewed in my experience.
I have Lewy body dementia, the second leading cause of dementia after Alzheimer’s. The disease presents with both memory and other cognitive problems as well as physical complications like tremors.
As people live longer, the number of people with diagnosed dementia is growing. Even if it’s not diagnosed dementia, forgetfulness increases as we age.
Here’s my Top 10 tips to remember better.
- Inventory. Before I go to work I take an inventory with my wife and caregiver Catherine. Cell phones? Check. Wallet? Check. Backpack with computer and accessories? Check. Shoes match? Check.
- Exercise. Get healthy. Exercise like you never have before. You’ll feel better, look better, and it may help you live longer. Cut back or quit alcohol and sweets and bad carbs in general.
- Play back. Re-trace your steps literally and mentally. For example, if you find yourself in a room and are unsure why you went there, go back in your mind and retrace your thought process. You can do that while going back to the room you started and see if that jogs your memory.
- Push back. Don’t be satisfied with your brain’s feeble attempt to block your memory. In my case, there are clumps of proteins called Lewy bodies after the doctor who discovered them, that are not supposed to be there. I know this sounds strange, but think about your brain. Ask it to improve. Ask your brain to fight back and remove the Lewy bodies. (See earlier piece ‘How to Hang on to a Memory.’)
- Writing I have found that I am not reading as much, especially books because I’ll often forget parts and have to go back and re-read. I’ve had better luck with writing, which is what I do for a living, so that’s good. But just before I wrote that last sentence, I accidentally pushed ‘publish.’ And so now the story is live with only 5 of my 10 tips. The rest are coming, hold on. <done>
- Visualize Recognize the face but can’t remember the name? Visualize when you met. Think back and see if you can remember where you met and what was said.
- Disclose When you forget what you are saying or feeling embarrassed about not being able to remember, don’t hide your impairment. Tell folks that you have dementia and struggle with forgetfulness. If you have Lewy body dementia, please share and explain as it is not well known, and often misdiagnosed. Hiding or trying to pretend your mind is still whip-smart takes too much energy.
- Same place. Keep your daily stuff, cell phones. wallets, purses in the same place every time. Where I get in trouble is putting something down for a ‘second’ to attend to something else. That ‘second’ expands to an hour or a day with lots of other thoughts and wanderings. Now you don’t remember where you put your cell phone.
- Keep cool. Many years ago our daughters’ had a pre-school teacher who said “Nothing’s ever lost on God’s green earth.” It would settle a panicky kid or that kid’s parents. And it’s true in many ways. I have gone from being frantic to agitated to mellow about losing things. It will be found in time, I say. Stress, anxiety and depression are the enemies of good brain function, not a lost cell phone.
- Doctor. If memory issues dominate your days or more than occasionally disrupt your day, go see a doctor. It may be serious like Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia or the memory loss may be normal aging. There are medications created for Alzheimer’s treatment that are used for Lewy body dementia as well.