Page 168 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

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CHAPTER 17

Boosting Acetylcholine

Diane's Story

Diane Pozniak, a fifty-four-year-old divorced woman, worked during the day and took classes at
night with the goal of obtaining a business degree and advancing her career and financial situation.
She was not doing well in her classes and felt that it was because her memory was not good. She
feared that these memory lapses would make it impossible for her to pass the required courses to
complete her degree. On the other hand, she had no problems functioning at her day job as an
administrative assistant. Her concern about memory loss arose from the fact that her mother had died
of dementia in a nursing home, and Diane was worried that she had begun to get a similar illness.

On neuropsychological testing, she performed within the expected range for her age on most tests,
except that her delayed recall score on the Selective Reminding Test, which evaluates the ability to
learn lists of words and keep them in memory (a test described in chapter 1), was slightly below par.
Her blood tests showed no metabolic, thyroid, or nutritional deficiencies, and her MRI scan was
normal. Physically, she was in good health with nothing abnormal on her medical or neurologic
examination. She seemed somewhat anxious and was clearly under stress, but I did not think she had
an anxiety disorder or depressive illness.

I talked to her about her health habits, particularly the importance of reducing saturated fat in her
diet and the need for regular