1. #1

    Help with memory loss for my father

    He just turned 60 about 2 weeks ago. He eats very unhealthy. ie: Deep fried foods, cakes, junk food, etc. I never see him eat a salad or drink a glass of milk. He loves coolaid, coffee. Hes 5'9, 235 pounds. about 11 years ago, he had a quadruple bipass. He also had a stroke as well. Minor. He twitches randomly. He went to his doctor to ask about that. They said it didnt sound like a form of terretts ( bombed that word ).

    Anyways, I work out. I have a pretty good memory. Also the fact im 25. I eat very healthy. I also take workout supplements. Just whey protein, fish oil, multivitamin/energy. So I know the basics of staying healthy and working for a good body myself. But for the advanced technical science part, thats where I need help.

    I was reading online that Omega 3 fatty acid from fish oil can help lower the risk of Alzheimer and can help benefit memory. Acetyl-L-carnitine might help Alzheimer's patients with memory problems.

    Is there anything that is natural that can help his memory or anyone's memory in general? Vitamins, foods, etc.

  2. #2
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Holyshnikies View Post
    He just turned 60 about 2 weeks ago. He eats very unhealthy. ie: Deep fried foods, cakes, junk food, etc. I never see him eat a salad or drink a glass of milk. He loves coolaid, coffee. Hes 5'9, 235 pounds. about 11 years ago, he had a quadruple bipass. He also had a stroke as well. Minor. He twitches randomly. He went to his doctor to ask about that. They said it didnt sound like a form of terretts ( bombed that word ).

    Anyways, I work out. I have a pretty good memory. Also the fact im 25. I eat very healthy. I also take workout supplements. Just whey protein, fish oil, multivitamin/energy. So I know the basics of staying healthy and working for a good body myself. But for the advanced technical science part, thats where I need help.

    I was reading online that Omega 3 fatty acid from fish oil can help lower the risk of Alzheimer and can help benefit memory. Acetyl-L-carnitine might help Alzheimer's patients with memory problems.

    Is there anything that is natural that can help his memory or anyone's memory in general? Vitamins, foods, etc.
    Whilst I have no medical background, I think you might be focusing to much on nutrition. Many diseases and medical conditions affect memory which have very little to do with nutrition.

    Have you checked for advice from your father's doctor?

  3. #3
    If he is having memory issues I would have him see a doctor.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Seirith View Post
    If he is having memory issues I would have him see a doctor.
    He has. And his doctor quotes " Welcome to old age ". Which is bullshit, because hes been like this since he was almost 50. 50 isnt THAT old. So either to me, it sounds like laziness to pursue to go any further to find out or thats it. Everything is chemicals in a sense. So there must be natural herbs or something that can help with this. I know people in their late 60s, early 70s who have better memory than people in their 50s.

  5. #5
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Holyshnikies View Post
    He has. And his doctor quotes " Welcome to old age ". Which is bullshit, because hes been like this since he was almost 50. 50 isnt THAT old. So either to me, it sounds like laziness to pursue to go any further to find out or thats it. Everything is chemicals in a sense. So there must be natural herbs or something that can help with this. I know people in their late 60s, early 70s who have better memory than people in their 50s.
    Having worked for a year in a retirement home with over 100 elderly residents I could also vouch that I know people in their 60s who have very mediocre if not poor memory. Your father like it or not might just genetically be on one side of the spectrum, not much to do about it if your doc genuinely has nothing to recommend.

  6. #6
    I believe when a study points to something lowering the risk of a condition, it is always a long term health study. So to suddenly start taking Omega 3 supplements would be too little too late. Dietary changes can probably aid in slowing the progression of memory loss, but what's lost is lost.

    Dementia usually gets the short end of the stick in the world of "Causal Awareness" because it strikes so late in life and is often treated as "just another part of aging".

    So while I'm not a Doctor and can't give you any advice about specific treatments,my advice would be if you read up on anything that claims to help, run it by your Dad's doctor, get a second opinion from your own doctor, before you go out and spend money.

    Because the world of consumer level medicine is wrought with grifters looking to walk away with your money.

    Also learning how to google effectively is important:

    If you hear that say, (just a silly example) Swiss Cheese helps dementia.

    Don't google "Swiss Cheese helps dementia" or "Does Swiss Cheese help dementia?" because the top 1 million search results will be people who have simply reposted or blatantly ripped off the original article making the claim or reposting reposts of the repost of the claim etc. You will only see 1 side of the argument if you use a neutral search string.

    Instead google "Swiss Cheese helps dementia scam" or "swiss cheese helps dementia fraud" or something negative to that effect. There you will typically find actual discussions between people claiming it's a fraud, and people defending it from the fraud claim, and if you dig through the back and forth you can find plenty of articles aligned to either side of the debate.

    Also familiarize yourself with the difference between the phrases:

    Studies suggest,
    Studies show,
    Experiments suggest
    and
    Experiments show.

    Ignore any article that haphazardly throws around various conjugations of the word "proof". Scientifically the word proof is reserved for things that show ABSOLUTELY no variance.

    If a lemon cures 4 out of 5 warts, that does not prove that lemons cure warts. A lemon would have to cure 99.999995% of cases before any self respecting member of the scientific community would use the word proof. Otherwise the word "Evidence" is the proper term to be used. 4 out of 5 cases would be strong evidence that lemons cure warts, suggesting other factors and variables that require isolation before any definitive conclusion can be drawn.

    So the majority of the time the word "proof" is used it's a big fat lie. Especially in medicine, there's a lot of variance between different people and their situations which makes legitimate use of the word proof impossible.

  7. #7
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Holyshnikies View Post
    He has. And his doctor quotes " Welcome to old age "
    Stop right there.
    60 is old, but certainly not old enough to warrant such comments from your doctor, Change him ASAP. That doctor sounds like a condescending prick who is not taking any notice of how your fathers condition is effecting your mental state as well as your fathers health issues. Change him.

  8. #8
    Ive seen people in their 20's that dont have good memories. It depends on the person, people lose energy over the years, and not everyone was a genius at some point in their life. An example would be to look at mike tyson, imagine when he hits 60.

  9. #9
    I've been on a vegetable/ fruit juice fast, besides feeling really healthy my memory started to become alot better as well (29 years). I think with just extra vegetables or fruits he'd be doing better, oh and fatty fish like eel . Omnomnom smoked eel!
    ~ stuff, the best thing ~

  10. #10
    The Insane Masark's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Holyshnikies View Post
    He has. And his doctor quotes " Welcome to old age ". Which is bullshit
    Find another doctor and get a second opinion.

    Warning : Above post may contain snark and/or sarcasm. Try reparsing with the /s argument before replying.
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  11. #11
    many different problems can cause memory loss. it is possible your father does have alzheimers, but i wouldn't necessarily jump to that conclusion right away. there are a few important distinctions to be made between memory loss and dementia. alzheimers is a form of dementia, with the characteristic memory loss that everyone knows about.

    normal patterns of old age: slower than normal with remembering names/dates/places, able to perform daily functions well such as getting dressed, brushing their teeth, balancing a check book.

    dementia: problems with functioning in daily life. the classic is someone getting lost on the way home from the bank or grocery store after having lived there for 20 years, etc. most people with dementia try to hide their loss of memory for events such by making things up. another important distinction is that demented people do not get frustrated when they can't remember things.

    pseudo-dementia: symptoms as described above but it is caused by depression and usually seen in nursing home patients. main distinction between true dementia is that they do get frustrated not remembering things.

    as far as i'm aware, the only accepted treatment for dementia is to treat the underlying cause. in the case of alzheimers that is to use medication, in the setting on vascular dementia it's to treat with anti hypertensives and cholesterol meds, etc. i have never heard of fish oil or any other vitamins that decrease your risk of memory loss.

    his doctor knows all of what i just stated and i'm sure he made the conclusion that it wasn't due to dementia but merely old age.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Holyshnikies View Post
    He has. And his doctor quotes " Welcome to old age ". Which is bullshit, because hes been like this since he was almost 50. 50 isnt THAT old. So either to me, it sounds like laziness to pursue to go any further to find out or thats it. Everything is chemicals in a sense. So there must be natural herbs or something that can help with this. I know people in their late 60s, early 70s who have better memory than people in their 50s.
    I would then get another doctor and explain to him what is going on. It may be diet related or it may just be your dads memory.

    Also, by bad memory do you mean long or short term? Does he have any good periods or is he forgetting things all the time?

  13. #13
    The Lightbringer Twoddle's Avatar
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    Ask him to spell 'World' backwards, a lighthearted test for stage 1 or 2 Alzheimer's, don't panic if you get it wrong or take a long time . Be aware that Alzheimer's in people with a high IQ often gets unnoticed until later stages because they can cover it up.

    I've been told my memory is bad and I know it is. Things like forgetting what I went in the next room for or going back to the fridge to get milk for my cup of tea and then seeing I already put it in, things that set in as we get older.

    But saying that, I can remember and recall a whole pack of shuffled playing cards in a few minutes, memorize hundred digit numbers in half an hour and I have all the important phone numbers from my address book memorized. All this is done using techniques than anyone can learn to do. However Ben Pridmore world memory champion can memorize a pack in 21 seconds and 800 digits in 15 minutes but couldn't recall where he did it in an interview, go figure .

    Things than can help improve memory as we age include:

    All varieties of fruits & veg the more colourful the better, blueberries are especially good as they can improve coordination as well.
    Omega 3s as mentioned.
    Physical exercise every day, this also helps you to sleep better.
    Good sleep.
    Memorizing stuff.
    Travel.

    Remembering stuff helps you to remember even more stuff. This is true because the brain uses existing memories to help cement new ones by linking neural pathways together, we link names and faces with the locations we first saw them at for example. The brain does not get full up as many think, most people are only using about 10% of their potential brain power! Just try not to cram too much information in at once, space it out. We also do a good job of automatically forgetting old unneeded stuff so that it doesn't clutter.

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