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Benedryl and memory loss
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Brain Health
Benedryl and memory loss
<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="1">Discuss the latest in Alzheimer’s and dementia treatment as well as the latest brain games to keep your gray matter more engaged.</font>
For over a year I have been experiencing growing memory problems--and fearing Alzheimers. After waiting several months I finally got to see Eric Lenz MD, one of the nation's top geriatric Psychi
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Cat:91a4afbf-9555-4e02-b9d3-9eef604476f6Forum:0c20bb8c-1804-4762-8bd6-5392c732365e
Cat:91a4afbf-9555-4e02-b9d3-9eef604476f6Forum:0c20bb8c-1804-4762-8bd6-5392c732365eDiscussion:1870ab7a-7cab-4d53-b212-7901ba117805
Forums » Health » Brain Health » Benedryl and memory loss
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Benedryl and memory loss
posted at October 25, 2012 11:24 AM EDT
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Posts: 2
First: October 25, 2012 Last: October 25, 2012 |
For over a year I have been experiencing growing memory problems--and fearing Alzheimers. After waiting several months I finally got to see Eric Lenz MD, one of the nation's top geriatric Psychiatrists, at Washington University in St. Louis MO. Tests eliminated my Alzheimer's worries, I have been using a generic form of Tylenol PM for sleep. Dr. Lenz advised me that benedryl and its generic equivalents can cause "drug induced demenita in elderly people". Fortunately the problems quickly reverse when the drug is stopped. On Line research substaniated what he said. Dr. Lenz also did some blood work and found that I am critically low in Vitamin D the lack of which can cause both depression and memory loss. Fortunately my B 12 level was OK. He assurred me that dropping the benedryl and other antihistamines, which can also cause memory problems, however, less dramatically would aleviate my memory and depression problems. I am now on a quest to share this important information with as many elderly people as possible |
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Re: Benedryl and memory loss
posted at May 6, 2013 9:12 PM EDT
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Posts: 20
First: May 4, 2013 Last: May 18, 2013 |
In Response to Benedryl and memory loss: For over a year I have been experiencing growing memory problems--and fearing Alzheimers. After waiting several months I finally got to see Eric Lenz MD, one of the nation's top geriatric Psychiatrists, at Washington University in St. Louis MO. Tests eliminated my Alzheimer's worries, I have been using a generic form of Tylenol PM for sleep. Dr. Lenz advised me that benedryl and its generic equivalents can cause "drug induced demenita in elderly people". Fortunately the problems quickly reverse when the drug is stopped. On Line research substaniated what he said. Dr. Lenz also did some blood work and found that I am critically low in Vitamin D the lack of which can cause both depression and memory loss. Fortunately my B 12 level was OK. He assurred me that dropping the benedryl and other antihistamines, which can also cause memory problems, however, less dramatically would aleviate my memory and depression problems. I am now on a quest to share this important information with as many elderly people as possible Posted by mariposa37 Here’s some info from an on-line article from The Wall Street Journal on the subject of side-affects from drugs and illnesses that cause memory loss and lead to false diagnoses of Alzheimer’s.
Here is an excerpt:
[...]Alzheimer's symptoms such as confusion, memory loss and personality changes also can be side effects from medication—even commonly used drugs. For example, the entire class of anticholinergic drugs, which includes many antihistamines, antianxiety drugs, muscle relaxants and sleeping pills, block the brain chemical acetylcholine, which sends signals in the nervous system. It is the same chemical that many Alzheimer's medications boost. Cholesterol-reducing statins have also been linked to brain fog in some people. [...]
Another interesting fact from the article:
[...]It isn't just primary-care physicians who may miss underlying conditions. "Every Alzheimer's expert living today has been fooled," says P. Murali Doraiswamy, chief of biological psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.
Autopsy studies of nearly 1,000 dementia patients at 30 top centers supported by the National Institute on Aging from 2005 to 2010 found that between 17% and 30% of those diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease had been misdiagnosed and had other conditions. The study, published in the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology in April, also found nearly 40% of patients not diagnosed with Alzheimer's during their lifetimes had evidence of Alzheimer's when autopsied. [...]
The article can be found on-line at this link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444327204577615353048888094.html
The article is dated August 27, 2012, and it’s already getting a little out of date on some of the details about Alzheimer’s developments. Still, it’s a great article on the subject of this thread.
The author has also done a number of other interesting articles for the Wall Street Journal on the subject of Alheimer’s. Just google Melinda Beck & Alzheimer’s for more. [Edit:] The AARP website has an article on how drugs affect memory as well. It's at this link: http://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/info-05-2013/drugs-that-may-cause-memory-loss.html?intcmp=HPBB3H |
Forums » Health » Brain Health » Benedryl and memory loss
