All too often, individuals above a certain age may have incidents of memory lapses or other cognitive episodes that may leave them wondering “Is this normal?” “Am I getting dementia?”. Here are some guidelines to distinguish between normal vs. abnormal memory impairment:
| NORMAL | ABNORMAL |
| Forgetting momentarily where something was placed (i.e. keys) or where one was going. | Increased forgetfulness where you cannot perform tasks of daily living safely such as cooking (i.e. leaving stove on while not cooking, or placing a kitchen towel on an open flame. |
| Delay recall of recent events, but eventually will recall. | Amnesia, no recall of recent events even the day prior. |
| Needing more time to learn new tasks or information. | Not able to learn new tasks or information. |
| Experiencing “tip of the tongue” phenomenon, and word retrieval will eventually come through. | Having difficulty expressing thoughts secondary to poor word retrieval and stringing a cohesive sentence together. Experiencing “aphasia”- a language disorder affecting a person’s ability to communicate. |
Information summarized from:
If your memory incidents are frequent and interrupting your daily life, as well as quality of life, talk to your general practitioner about your concerns.
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