Page 118 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

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Manage Your Domestic Pharmacy

Maintain and update your domestic pharmacy on a regular basis, throwing away expired or unused
medications. This roundup should include not only prescription medications but also over-the-
counter and alternative remedies. As with prescription medications, some alternative medications
contain substances that can be toxic, particularly heavy metals and anticholinergics. Since solid
information on most alternative medications' brain toxicity is lacking, I have left them out of the
table.

Environmental Chemical Damage to Your Brain Cells

Lead, mercury, arsenic, carbon monoxide, and organic solvents like benzene and toluene are toxic to
the brain. Luckily, chemical exposure to large doses of toxins is largely a thing of the past, at least in
the United States. Nonetheless, the problem does persist, since the control of auto emissions and
industrial pollutants is far from perfect. Exposure to low levels of these toxins can cause mild
cognitive deficits.

In children, nerve cells are still reproducing and growing, and heavy metals like lead wreak havoc
on DNA and the process of cell reproduction. In adults, the nerve cells have already been fully
formed, so the potential for brain damage and memory loss is much lower, though it still exists. In
our Memory Disorders Center, we have seen a handful of middle-aged patients with possible heavy
metal or organic solvent (benzene, toluene) toxicity, usually from a work-related source. In such
cases, the facts can become a little murky if workmen's compensation claims are involved.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Auto exhausts emit carbon monoxide gas, which atmospheric oxygen quickly converts to the less
dangerous, though still unhealthy, carbon dioxide gas. People who try to commit suicide by carbon
monoxide poisoning shut the garage doors to prevent access to fresh oxygen, connect the exhaust
pipe to the interior of the car, and turn on the ignition. When this happens, the carbon monoxide from
the exhaust competes with and displaces oxygen from hemoglobin in the body's bloodstream,
depriving vital tissues of life-giving oxygen. Therefore, the brain areas damaged by carbon
monoxide