My wife is 63 years old. She is showing signs of memory loss . We visited a nuerolgist and she said, that because she Sleep apnia she is experiencing memory loss. She doesn t believe it is the cause and won t take the treatment that was perscribed by the doctor. I am not sure it is either. She is sleeping 12 to 14 hours a day. Every time she wakes up her memory seems to be getting worse. Tonight she forget she wasfeeding the dogs 15 minutes after she feed them. She asked me we were having for dinner. I told her there wa lasagne in the frig. 5 minutes after I told her this she asked me what we were aving for dinner again. I feel so helpless.
Hello gsmithsiphoneWelcome to Chat Doctor Sleep Apnea is abnormal cessation of breathing followed by disturbance in sleep, individual wakes and then resumes the sleep. It may be Central Sleep Apnea and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Basically it causes multiple awakening in night and non-refreshing sleep. Individual become lethargic, irritable due to the poor sleep. It is due to poor sleep he may have daytime sleepiness and poor attention and concentration, which may cause memory impairment. But as you have mentioned your wife is 63 years old, and she is experiencing impairment in Immediate Memory, basically in registration and recall. Immediate memory loss is classically seen in Dementias most likely in Alzheimer's dementia. So individual with this disorder tend to forget day to day things, he may have intact memory, but immediate memory is affected most. As per my opinion kindly visit a good Psychiatrist and take opinion. Thanks, Take Care.