![]() ![]() ![]() When prescribing a benzodiazepine, it is important to fully inform patients of the drug's potential side effects and to maintain the lowest effective dose for the shortest period of time. Alternatives to prescribing benzodiazepines include antidepressant medications, exercise or psychotherapy. Elderly clients experiencing memory impairment may be embarrassed to mention the problem. Individuals taking benzodiazepines are often unaware of their memory impairment unless it is pointed out to them. They are stored in long-term memory and can be recalled at any time. Memory impairment is more likely in benzodiazepines that have a high benzodiazepine-receptor affinity, that accumulate in the body, that are given in high doses or intravenously, or that are eliminated slowly. In contrast to anterograde memory, retrograde memories are typically formed without conscious effort. People with anterograde amnesia have trouble making new memories after the onset of amnesia. Information stored prior to the ingestion of a benzodiazepine is not affected. The two main types of amnesia are anterograde and retrograde. Patients with damage thought to be restricted to the hippocampus had retrograde amnesia for past news events that extended only a few years into the premorbid period ( Manns et al. The memory loss may occur because events are not transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory and thus not consolidated into memory storage. Retrograde amnesia can be either temporally limited, covering a few years, or prolonged, depending on the locus and extent of the damage. Following the ingestion of a benzodiazepine, short-term memory is not affected, but long-term memory is impaired. Benzodiazepines, shown to affect memory, can produce anterograde amnesia (i.e., a loss of memory for events occurring forward in time).
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