Normal aging can cause some forgetfulness. It is normal to have some trouble learning new material or needing more time to remember it. But normal aging does not lead to dramatic memory loss. Such memory loss is due to other diseases.
Memory loss can be caused by many things. To determine a cause, your health care provider will ask if the problem came on suddenly or slowly.
Many areas of the brain help you create and retrieve memories. A problem in any of these areas can lead to memory loss.
Memory loss may result from a new injury to the brain, which is caused by or is present after:
Sometimes, memory loss occurs with mental health problems, such as:
Memory loss may be a sign of dementia. Dementia also affects thinking, language, judgment, and behavior. Common types of dementia associated with memory loss are:
- Alzheimer disease
- Vascular dementia
- Lewy body dementia
- Fronto-temporal dementia
- Progressive supranuclear palsy
- Normal pressure hydrocephalus
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Other causes of memory loss include:
- Alcohol or use of prescription or illegal drugs
- Brain infections such as Lyme disease, syphilis, or HIV/AIDS
- Overuse of medicines, such as barbiturates or (hypnotics)
- ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) (most often short-term memory loss)
- Epilepsy that is not well controlled
- Illness that results in the loss of, or damage to brain tissue or nerve cells, such as Parkinson disease, Huntington disease, or multiple sclerosis
- Low levels of important nutrients or vitamins, such as low vitamin B1 or B12
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Updated by: Linda J. Vorvick, MD, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine, UW Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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A simple rash is called dermatitis, meaning inflammation of the skin. Contact dermatitis is caused by things your skin touches, such as:
- Chemicals in elastic, latex, and rubber products
- Cosmetics, soaps, and detergents
- Dyes and other chemicals in clothing
- Poison ivy, oak, or sumac
Seborrheic dermatitis is a rash that appears in patches of redness and scaling around the eyebrows, eyelids, mouth, nose, trunk, and behind the ears. If it happens on your scalp, it is called dandruff in adults and cradle cap in infants.
Age, stress, fatigue, weather extremes, oily skin, infrequent shampooing, and alcohol-based lotions aggravate this harmless but bothersome condition.
Other common causes of a rash include:
- Eczema (atopic dermatitis) -- Tends to happen in people with allergies or asthma. The rash is generally red, itchy, and scaly.
- Psoriasis -- Tends to occur as red, scaly, patches over joints and along the scalp. It is sometimes itchy. Fingernails may also be affected.
- Impetigo -- Common in children, this infection is from bacteria that live in the top layers of the skin. It appears as red sores that turn into blisters, ooze, then for a honey colored crust over.
- Shingles -- A painful blistered skin condition caused by the same virus as chickenpox. The virus can lie dormant in your body for many years and re-emerge as shingles. It usually affects only one side of the body.
- Childhood illnesses such as chickenpox, measles, roseola, rubella, hand-foot-mouth disease, fifth disease, and scarlet fever.
- Medicines and insect bites or stings.
Many medical conditions can cause a rash as well. These include: