So make sure your doctor doesn't immediately use Occams' razor and assign your memory problems to the stroke before ruling out other possibilities.
http://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/1187
People who develop a type of irregular
heartbeat common in old age called atrial fibrillation may also be more
likely to develop problems with memory and thinking, according to new
research published in the June 5, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
“Problems with memory and thinking are common for people as they get
older. Our study shows that on average, problems with memory and
thinking may start earlier or get worse more quickly in people who have
atrial fibrillation,” said study author Evan L. Thacker, PhD, of the
University of Alabama at Birmingham. “This means that heart health is an
important factor related to brain health.”
The study involved people age 65 and older from four communities in the
United States who were enrolled in the Cardiovascular Health Study.
Participants did not have a history of atrial fibrillation or stroke at
the start of the study. They were followed for an average of seven
years, and received a 100-point memory and thinking test every year.
People who had a stroke were not included in this analysis after the
stroke. Of the 5,150 participants, 552, or about 11 percent, developed
atrial fibrillation during the study.
The study found that people with atrial fibrillation were more likely to
experience lower memory and thinking scores at earlier ages than people
with no history of atrial fibrillation. For example, from age 80 to age
85 the average score on the 100-point test went down by about 6 points
for people without atrial fibrillation, but it went down by about 10
points for people with atrial fibrillation.
For participants ages 75 and older, the average rate of decline was
about three to four points faster per five years of aging with atrial
fibrillation compared to those without the condition.
“This suggests that on average, people with atrial fibrillation may be
more likely to develop cognitive impairment or dementia at earlier ages
than people with no history of atrial fibrillation,” Thacker said.
Thacker noted that scores below 78 points on the 100-point test are
suggestive of dementia. People without atrial fibrillation in the study
were predicted on average to score below 78 points at age 87, while
people with atrial fibrillation were predicted to score below 78 points
at age 85, two years earlier.
“If there is indeed a link between atrial fibrillation and memory and
thinking decline, the next steps are to learn why that decline happens
and how we can prevent that decline,” said Thacker.
The study was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
and the National Institute on Aging.
To learn more about cognitive decline, visit http://www.aan.com/patients.
The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more
than 25,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to
promoting the
highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A
neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing,
treating and managing
disorders of the brain and nervous system such as
Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, concussion,
Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.
Use the labels in the right column to find what you want. Or you can go thru them one by one, there are only 29,112 posts. Searching is done in the search box in upper left corner. I blog on anything to do with stroke.DO NOT DO ANYTHING SUGGESTED HERE AS I AM NOT MEDICALLY TRAINED, YOUR DOCTOR IS, LISTEN TO THEM. BUT I BET THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET YOU 100% RECOVERED. I DON'T EITHER, BUT HAVE PLENTY OF QUESTIONS FOR YOUR DOCTOR TO ANSWER.
Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.
What this blog is for:
My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.
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