I had terrible trouble with my memory after I had undergone four surgeries in six months. I was sent to a neurologist after I found myself at the side of the road wondering where I was and where I was going. My brain scan was clear. I talked to the doctor for a while about the problems I was having. Some of the memory loss could be attributed to the anaesthetics. I told him about my depression and that I had been only recently diagnosed with chronic recurrent depression. He told me that depression takes up room in the brain the way information takes up room in a computer. Years of undiagnosed and therefore untreated depression were affecting my ability to remember.
Lesson learned. Dr. Koczerginski, Chief of Psychiatry at William Osler Health System, told me that some older people can be diagnosed with a form of dementia when it might be undiagnosed, untreated depression that is the cause of the memory loss.
Depression is serious. It requires treatment. If for no other reason than being assured that memory loss is not from dementia, have a mental health check up.
Read more: Harvard Medical School
Learn more about this in Episode Two
