One of the consequences of brain damage is amnesia or memory loss. There are various types of amnesia, such as retrograde amnesia which makes it impossible for you to retrieve memories from your past. It affects memories that occurred before the injury. It can be a temporary side effect, but it can also be permanent or even progressive.
What Causes Retrograde Amnesia?
As it happens with other types of amnesia, retrograde amnesia is caused by damage to the areas of the brain where memories are stored. The causes include trauma to the head, seizure, brain hemorrhage, and degenerative disease. This type of amnesia is different from the others in that it doesn’t affect any of the skills the patient already has. You may not remember how you learned how to do something, but you will still be able to do it.
How Is It Treated?
It can be treated in different ways depending on what caused it. If the cause is some kind of disease or illness, the doctor will surely treat the culprit so the effects on the brain can cease or be less frequent. That is the case with epilepsy, which causes seizures that could lead to brain damage. Reducing the frequency of the seizures could lead to improvements in the amnesia effects.
Therapy can also help in these cases. It helps the patient cope with the consequences of the disease and provides the tools that can help replace the lost knowledge with a new one. This is done in a way that it can be permanently stored in the patient’s brain. For example, you can make use of your phone or tablet as an artificial memory repository or as a tool to help you remember appointments and other necessary information.
Conclusion
Retrograde amnesia can be caused by a series of different factors. It makes it impossible for the patient to remember events that happened before the onset of amnesia. Depending on the cause, there are ways to help those affected lead an almost normal life.
