As the charge nurse suspected Eddie had a UTI. Once this was treated his confusion quickly improved and his ‘memory problems’ resolved. A number of other conditions or cognitive issues can present as or ‘mimic’ memory problems, these include:
- Attentional Problems- People with attentional difficulties will often look like they have poor memories. If we are not attending well then the chances of getting information into short term and then long term storage is slim. However, for such individuals the focus in rehab should be working on their poor attention rather than strategies to assist with memory difficulties.
- Executive Problems- In certain situations we know there might be something we want to/ is important to remember. As a result we plan and organise ; we might take notes or photographs and/or rehearse the information afterwards to aid recall. Sometimes we call this ‘remembering to remember’. Individuals with executive difficulties may struggle with this and it can look like their memory is poor. In these circumstances it’s important that our rehab focuses on these executive issues and not just memory alone.
- Depression- Individual who are depressed often report memory difficulties (and remember, unfortunately mood disorders are relatively common post stroke. Prevalence and Course of Depression During the First Year After Mild to Moderate Stroke Liming Dong, Linda S. Williams, Devin L. Brown, Erin Case, Lewis B. Morgenstern and Lynda D. Lisabeth Originally published29 Jun 2021 https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.120.02049Journal of the American Heart Association. 2021;10:e020494) and perform less well on memory assessments. However, it wouldn’t make sense to provide strategies to help their memory while ignoring the underlying mood disorder- this needs to be the focus.
- Word finding difficulties (WFD)– Individuals with expressive language difficulties especially WFD’s often describe this as a sort of memory problem e.g. ‘I know what it is but I forget what it’s called’, ‘It’s so annoying I know the word I want to use but I just can’t remember it’. These are generally language difficulties rather than memory problems and the rehab needs to concentrate on language.
