Forgetful? yes we can be But brain blur isn’t always the same as Alzheimer’s

It’s normal for a senior to need to focus a little more to keep up with conversations, or sometimes be reluctant to attend social events. Difficulty engaging in conversations, finding words, and losing interest in hobbies or friends are signs of dementia.

phew! I think I’ve just passed the test for normalcy, although I might be borderline in some cases. I put things in odd places, partly as an eccentric burglar alarm: if they want to snatch that pretty little jeweled watch or that expensive iPad, I let them bother looking for it.

And I’ve also found that if you put an object in a stupid place – don’t change the place or you’ll never find it yourself again. The organized person adheres to the principle of “a place for everything and everything in its place,” but for those of us living in barely controllable chaos, the practice may be different.

Am I repeating myself sometimes? Oh yeah. However, I don’t call it “repeat” – I call it “review the situation”.

Let me repeat the incomparable CRAFT acronym coined by veteran agony aunt Viriginia Ironside: “Can’t Remember a Flipping Thing” (only she didn’t say “Flipping”). But it’s a pretty useful escape when someone presents you with an embarrassing reminder from a bygone era: “Oh CRAFT!”

Forgotten, forgotten – that is the curse of old age, even if we are assured that it does not necessarily have to be dementia or Alzheimer’s. I got so fed up with forgetting where I last put my reading glasses that I bought six cheap pairs and put a set in every room, including the loo.

The main purpose of a landline phone these days seems to be to call me on my cell phone to find out where I last left it. Luckily, I’m pretty good at memorizing numbers through association with historical data, otherwise I’d have to look up my cell phone number to call them.

It is important to write everything down in a notebook. All. Then you need to remember where you left the notebook.

Forgetting names is a curse, and it’s particularly difficult to remember when you see people taken out of context — the local librarian at a clothing store, the dental assistant at a music concert. Let’s not envy the acting profession, where you have the right to call anyone “Darling.”

But then other names are forgotten too – younger ones too. When introduced to someone new, I have a mnemonic to help them remember my name. “Fifty percent of Irish women over 50 may have some variation of the name ‘Mary,'” I tell them. “So if you address an elderly Irish lady as ‘Mary’ you have a 50 percent chance of getting it right!” Cheesy, but the story ‘sticks’ the name in the recipient’s mind – normally.

Yes, it’s a consolation that younger people are absent-minded too, like buying something in a store and then forgetting to bring it home; or go upstairs to get something and forget why they came upstairs.

There seems to be a rational explanation for this: when you go through a “portal” – changing rooms – the brain leaves previous data behind.

Have you ever started reading a book and then it dawned on you, say on page 50, that you’ve read it before? (Only you can’t remember the end, so you might as well keep plowing on.)

Have you ever looked up a word in a dictionary for what seems like the tenth time, but keep forgetting what it actually means? How many times have I searched the dictionary pages for “jejune” or “coruscating”.

As a brain exercise, I try to learn two new French words every day: today “procuration” (authority) and “état tampon” (buffer state). I learned them – but will I keep the memory?

It is said that learning at a young age is like writing on stone; Learning in old age is like writing on water. Still, you have to stick to the program of trying things out. And drink gallons of coffee for synaptic stimulation.

Jokes aside, the Alzheimer’s Society has done a great job of shedding light on the difference between the usual forgetfulness of old age and the onset of a serious illness that benefits from early diagnosis. If symptoms are caught earlier, people can be helped with treatment and better management.

If you’re not sure what day of the week it is, that’s normal: if you’ve lost track of the time of year, that’s the signal for treatment.