Is Memory Loss or Dementia a Symptom of Menopause?

Dementia is a decrease in mental function that involves learning and memory, language, function, attention, motor skills, and social memory. To get the diagnosis of dementia, the memory loss has to be severe enough to interfere with daily function and independence.  Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia in the elderly and accounts for up to eighty percent of cases.  It should make you feel better to know that most people with dementia are brought to their physician by their family.  Self-reported memory loss does not appear to correlate with the development of dementia.  Informant-reported memory loss (a family member reports the memory loss to the physician) is a better predictor of the presence (and future development) of dementia.  Patients that have dementia have trouble retaining new information, handling complex tasks (such as balancing a checkbook), reasoning, and getting lost in familiar places. Do crossword puzzles, Sudoku, watch “Brain Games,” and go to www.lumosity.com to keep your brain working.