This symptom favorite filmmakers. The hero gets hit on the head and then wanders aimlessly, trying to remember who he is and where. Such cases of sudden and extensive amnesia rare, but memory loss can still be a serious problem. There are many types of memory loss - from accidental forgetfulness to total loss of short term memory.

Causes of Memory Loss

• Medications. Some drugs can affect memory or lead to memory loss. Among these drugs - antidepressants, antihistamines, funds from anxiety Anxiety - how to distinguish normal from disease? , Muscle relaxants, tranquilizers, sleeping pills and painkillers.
• Alcohol, tobacco, drugs. It has long been known that alcohol can lead to memory loss. Smoking also harms memory, reducing the amount of oxygen that gets to the brain. Studies have shown that smokers are worse than remembering names and faces of people. Drugs alter the chemical interactions in the brain that can lead to memory loss.
• Lack of sleep. Both the amount and quality of sleep is important for a good memory. If a person does not sleep or waking up constantly, he accumulated fatigue, which impairs the ability to recall.
• Depression and Stress How to beat stress? Create an oasis . Depression can cause that person to become difficult to focus, and this affects the memory. Stress and anxiety also affect concentration. When you are tense, the ability to remember is deteriorating. Memory loss can also cause stress caused by emotional trauma.
• Lack of nutrients. Good food - including high-quality protein and fat - it is important for the functioning of the brain. Especially important for a good memory of vitamins B1 and B12, their lack of it can lead to memory loss.
• Head injury. A strong blow to the head - for example, a fall or a car accident - can damage the brain and cause the loss of both short and long-term memory. But over time the memory can gradually recover.
• Stroke. A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is disrupted - because of blockage of a blood vessel, going to the brain, or rupture of a blood vessel in the brain. Strokes often cause short-term memory loss. Man after a stroke can perfectly remember the events of his childhood, but can not remember what to eat for breakfast.
• Dementia (dementia). So it called progressive loss of memory and other cognitive functions, and violations are strong enough to interfere with everyday life. Although dementia may be many reasons (eg, vascular disease, substance abuse, and other factors that damage the brain), and the most common known cause is Alzheimer's disease.
• Other reasons. Also cause memory loss may be insufficient or excessive activity of the thyroid gland, as well as infections such as HIV, tuberculosis Tuberculosis - a full recovery is not guaranteed Syphilis Syphilis - punishment of Venus That can affect the brain.

Elucidation of the causes

If you feel that progresses forgetfulness or memory problems affect your daily life, consult a physician to determine the cause and prescribe treatment.

The doctor will ask about medical history, examine you, to offer the tests. Depending on the results in the future you may be referred to the blood and urine tests, examination nerves, magnetic resonance or computed tomography of the brain.

The treatment of memory loss

Treatment depends on the cause memory loss. In many cases, the changes are reversible. For example, if the memory is deteriorated due to drug intake may help replace them with other drugs. If the reason is lack of certain substances that help supplementation. Treating depression can help, if that depression was the cause of memory loss. In some cases - for example, after a stroke - therapy can help a person remember how to perform simple daily activities. In many cases, the memory can be restored with time.

In the case of Alzheimer's disease prescribe medications that can improve memory, as well as a means to reduce the pressure to reduce the risk of brain damage.

Meningitis - inflammation of the tissues, membranes of the brain and spinal cord, which can be caused by a number of bacteria, viruses, and, in rare cases, fungal microorganisms. Quite often complicated by meningitis, septicemia - blood poisoning bacteria, especially if the development of meningitis caused by meningococcal bacteria.

Description meningitis was first mentioned in the writings of the Greek physician Paul of Aegina in the 7th century, and Avicenna in the 11th century. In the mid-18th century, the spread of epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis English physician described Waite. Even after a hundred years of Russian doctor P.A.Charukovsky described in detail the signs of meningitis Symptoms of meningitis - cerebral symptoms .

What is meningitis

Meningitis - an inflammation of the membranes of the brain and spinal cord. Since several of the meninges, distinguish meningitis - an inflammation of the arachnoid and soft shells, arachnoiditis - inflammation of the arachnoid and pachymeningitis - inflammation of the dura mater. But actually, the term "meningitis" means mainly meningitis.

When different kinds of intoxication on the background of infection, poisoning and so on can occur irritation of the meninges, which is not true due to inflammation in them. Such a state, in contrast to meningitis called meningism.

Considered the most dangerous meningococcal infection: before the advent of antibiotics from her dying 7 patients out of 10. After the advent of antibiotics reduced mortality and mortality today depends largely on how quickly the patient will be prescribed appropriate treatment. If treatment is given promptly, the prognosis is favorable.

Serous meningitis in most cases ends in recovery.

Types of Meningitis

The disease Meningitis can be caused by different reasons and in different ways to proceed. Therefore, there are many types of meningitis and several classifications. Variations in character meningitis secrete inflammation and changes in cerebrospinal fluid divided by purulent meningitis (usually of bacterial origin) and serosal (viral or any other origin).

Secondary meningitis that develops in tumors and kollagenozah, always wears a serous character.

The classification of causes of meningitis - identifies the following forms of meningitis:

• Bacterial meningitis

A - purulent forms: menningokokkovy (epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis), pneumococcal caused stick Afanasiev-Pfeiffer (hemophilic meningitis), staphylococcal meningitis, streptococcal meningitis, gonococcal meningitis, meningitis caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella meningitis, typhoid meningitis kolibatsillyarny meningitis listeriozny meningitis .

B - serous forms: tuberculous meningitis TB meningitis - the consequences of the spread of the pathogen Syphilitic meningitis, meningitis mycoplasmal, leptospiral meningitis.

• Viral meningitis (serous)

A - acute lymphocytic choriomeningitis benign; B - caused by the mumps virus (mumps meningitis); In - called enteroviruses Coxsackie and ECHO; G - herpetic meningitis (herpes meningitis), D - flu-like meningitis and E - caused by HIV infection (meningitis and HIV - a combination of not so rare).

• Fungal meningitis and meningitis caused by protozoa (serous or purulent)

A - blastomikozny meningitis B - koktsidoidozny meningitis B - Toxoplasma meningitis, T - Candida meningitis, D - mukorozny meningitis, E - amebic meningitis.

By the nature of the flow is divided into fulminant meningitis, acute, subacute and chronic. Chronic meningitis is developing, such as syphilis.

According to an advantageous arrangement of inflammation secrete basal meningitis (with a predominant localization process on the lower surface of the brain), convexital meningitis (on the surface of the cerebral hemispheres), Mesodiencephalic meningitis (involving midbrain and hypothalamic region) spinal meningitis (in the spinal cord) .

Causes of meningitis

Purulent meningitis can be caused by almost all bacteria, protozoa and fungi. However, in practice, this disease is caused by a relatively small number of pathogens: menningokokkami (more than half of all cases of purulent meningitis), pneumococci and Haemophilus influenzae. Causes of meningitis may be other, often found today meningitis caused by Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

There are serous meningitis outbreaks enteroviral origin, was first documented and confirmed by laboratory in the middle of the last century. This infection tends to spread, especially in summer and autumn.

Secondary Meningitis often develops as a complication of inflammation of upper respiratory tract and periodontal tissue. For rhinogenous meningitis develops against the background of infectious and inflammatory processes in the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses. Very often this combination as sinusitis and meningitis. In diseases of the middle and inner ear may develop meningitis otogenny Otogenny meningitis - complication of inflammatory processes in the ear , Diseases of the periodontal tissues - odontogenic meningitis. After emergency brain surgery often developed postoperative meningitis.

There is also a toxic meningitis that develops in cases of poisoning by various toxic substances (eg acetone).

What changes in the brain and spinal cord causing meningitis

Pathological changes in meningitis occur not only in the meninges of the brain and spinal cord (meningitis of the brain - the cerebral meningitis, meningitis, spinal cord - spinal meningitis), but also in the inner membrane lining the brain cavity (ependyma) and wreath of blood vessels in the ventricles .

But it is the relative representation of what happens in the brain and spinal cord. For example, in purulent meningitis first two days of the inflammatory process has a serous character.

When time begun treatment purulent exudate is subjected to enzymatic degradation and absorption, but in some cases it is organized. Forming adhesions in the shells and the ventricles of the brain. Develop chronic purulent meningitis, characterized by the formation of adhesions and closed purulent or serous cavities between the sheets soft shell.

Adhesions can also be formed in the ventricles of the brain to form a cavity filled with pus or cerebrospinal fluid. Sclerotherapy (proliferation of connective tissue) followed by obliteration of the meninges (imperforate lumen) of the blood vessels located in this area. This so-called chronic productive meningitis. All this leads to disruption of circulation of cerebrospinal fluid and the formation of hydrocephalus (dropsy of brain). All of these changes can occur. As after the acute inflammatory process, and without it, starting immediately with chronic inflammation.

If the effusion contains red blood cells, the soft shell turns red - this is called a hemorrhagic meningitis.