Page 130 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

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High cholesterol
Smoking
Obesity
Lack of exercise
Diabetes
Stress

Your preventive strategy should focus on reducing risk factors for stroke: reduce stress; go for
annual medical checkups if you have a strong family history of stroke; reduce your weight and the
intake of saturated fats in your diet; maintain regular exercise habits; take cholesterol-lowering
medicines if proper diet and exercise together are not enough to keep your levels low; stop smoking;
keep your blood pressure under control with a low-fat diet, low-salt intake, and if necessary,
antihypertensive medications; and control diabetes (diet and/or medications) if you have this disease.

Three forms of cerebrovascular (brain blood vessels) disease can worsen cognition, including
memory: transient ischemic attacks, ministrokes or small infarcts, and frank clinical strokes.

Transient Ischemic Attack: The Starting Point

A transient ischemic attack (TIA) involves partial blockage or spasm of a blood vessel in the brain
without a complete cutoff in the blood supply. A TIA portends a stroke, just as chest pain due to
angina warns of a heart attack. This is the stage where prevention and prophylactic treatment for a
possible stroke are vital. If you have any of the risk factors for stroke, you need to learn a little about
TIAs.

This Time, the Doctor Was Right: Joe's Story

My most dramatic patient with cerebrovascular disease had a TIA, not a stroke. In 1981, I was on
night call as the emergency room physician when a man walked in with his wife. Joe Smith, a tall,
massive construction worker in his late forties, said he had only a minor problem that needed to be
checked out and didn't really feel the need to be in the emergency room. His wife, however, was very
concerned and had dragged him to our ER under protest. The story that emerged started to ring alarm
bells in my mind.