Memory loss and Menopause.
I can remember talking to my friend Jeannie - who, by
the way, is several years and several liters of hormones
ahead of me in this whole menopause process - when her
symptoms were just beginning. A typical conversation
would go something like this:
Jeannie: "So I went to this new restaurant last week
called ….um….. you know….um…."
Me: Raos?
Jeannie: No that's not it, they didn't serve Italian food
they served um …., um….., I had …..um…..
Me: Chinese? Indian? Mexican?
Jeannie : No, no. . .. It tasted like ….um … but not, you know …it was like from …..what's that place where what's her name went on vacation when she was married to that guy, you know, the one who was married before to that blonde - - now what was her name again ?
Before long I always found myself shouting out answers like I was on some kind of quiz show. Spicy! Mexican! Brazil! Maryellen ! Roger! Blonde Rita!
I somehow always felt I should win a washer and dryer
after every conversation Jeannie and I had.
As frustrating as it was at the time, I knew that emory loss was part and parcel of a woman's mid- life changes, caused, or at least exacerbated, by the same fluctuations in estrogen that were behind so many of our other symptoms - including hot flashes and mood swings.
That's because normally, estrogen plays several very important roles in our ability to remember.
First, it helps bring more blood to the brain - and that in turn can literally "light up" our memory cells and stimulate them into action.
But it also helps in other ways - playing a role in organizing memory data, for example, and transporting certain neurotransmitters, along with our thoughts, from one area of our brain to another. Estrogen also aids in the production of several very important brain chemicals specifically linked to memory, particularly acetylcholine. It even helps to regulate some functions in an area of the brain known as the "hippocampus", which is where key activities involved in memory take place - like recalling where you put the car keys!
Some research shows that estrogen may also play a role in the manufacture of a natural substance known as apolipoprotein E (apoE), a decrease of which is now believed to play a key role in the development of dementia. In one study conducted by Dr. Barbara Sherwin of McGill University in Montreal, women who were deprived of estrogen for any extended period of time lost at least some ability to recall verbal information.
Other research published by a group of British doctors in the journal Clinical Experiments in Pharmacological Physiology in 1998 found that across the board estrogen appears to influence production of a good many of the brain chemicals involved in memory, cognition, emotion and even the overall ability to think.
Certainly, it's possible that some mid-life memory loss is due to an early onset of dementia, or even just the aging process itself.
When this is the case you may not recall the face of someone whom you have met or have known for a while, or you may fail to remember even simple directions 5 minutes after you receive them.
For the most part, however, if your memory problems involve things like not being able to find the right word to express your thoughts, or if you find you can't recall a name, if you walk into a room and forget what you went there to get, or you make a call and suddenly can't remember who you dialed - chances are your memory problems are hormone related, and mediated by this transition time in your life.
The good news here: The effects are temporary. Experts agree that while the drop in estrogen may precipitate memory problems, again, it's really the fluctuations and not the low levels that matter most.
So, once your hormones stabilize and the dancing comes to a halt, many of the memory problems you are experiencing will clear - and your thought patterns and levels of concentration will return to normal. Even better news: Many of the same therapies that can help you stabilize your hormone levels and improve your mood swings will improve your memory problems as well.
Perhaps the most important thing to not become too stressed about either your mood swings or your failing memory. As you are about to discover, at least some of the ways in which you handle these and other problems in your life can go a long way in impacting how your hormones will function - and consequently how you will feel through much of your transition time.