Etch-A-Sketch Brain: Pregnancy-related Memory Loss
Sep 26 '00
You are familiar with the old saying about making sure that you keep enough to get by on when giving someone a piece of your mind. This adage holds doubly true in pregnancy, when women experience that curious affliction of the third trimester - temporary short-term memory loss.
If you are currently in this condition, or have been in the past, you know exactly what I am talking about - or have you already forgotten the topic of conversation? In any case, you know the scenario. You are late for your umpteenth weekly doctor's appointment. As you head out the door, you applaud yourself for remembering that you have left you wallet on your dresser. Your self-congratulatory smugness is short-lived, however. As you ascend the stairs, you encounter your son's discarded tee shirt, carelessly flung on the stairs for someone to trip over. As you bend over to pick it up - BOOM! It hits you! What did I come up here for...?
Doctors have tried unsuccessfully to explain this phenomenon for years. They thought they were on to something back in 1996 when they discovered that estrogen improved the short-term memory of Alzheimer's patients. However, these results were confounded by the finding in a 1997 study that the memory of women in the third trimester was unaided by estrogen levels of close to 30,000 - roughly 100 times normal levels. The good news is, the memory loss experienced by women in late pregnancy is transient, as memory levels returned to normal post-pregnancy.
So what does cause this short-term memory loss? My own theory revolves around some simple observations made during my own 4 pregnancies. You can think of your long-term memory as storage in a super-computer. It may take a while to download and unzip this information, but it can be retrieved with some effort. That is why you can remember important information, such as the middle name of your best friend in kindergarten and the value of Pi to 6 places.
Think of your short-term memory as an Etch-A-Sketch. You go through your daily routine, jotting down ideas on your own mental Etch-A-Sketch. In the act of bending over, the weight of your pregnancy presses on several critical blood vessels, including those supplying blood to your brain. This effectively reduces oxygen going to the brain to a small trickle – usually enough to keep you from passing out, but having the effect of vigorously shaking your personal Etch-A-Sketch. Whoosh! Gone forever.
So while pregnancy related short-term memory loss can be a bit bothersome and inconvenient, you can rest assured that it should return to normal once you have your baby. You may even find yourself wishing you could forget some details. Like your weight, for instance. In the meantime, if you really need to remember something, my advice is write it down in big, bold letters, and affix it to something you are sure not to miss. The refrigerator and the toilet are safe bets.
In the meantime, try to relax and enjoy yourself, and above all, don't worry. After all, ignorance is bliss!
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Esther4kids
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Member: Esther Morris
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Motherhood is not for wimps!
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