Free
E-newsletter
Subscribe to Housecall
Our weekly general interest
e-newsletter keeps you up to date
on a wide variety of health topics.
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffTreatment for amnesia focuses on techniques and strategies to help make up for the memory problem.
Occupational therapy
A person with amnesia may work with an occupational therapist to learn new information to replace what was lost, or to use intact memories as a basis for taking in new information. Memory training may also include a variety of strategies for organizing information so that it's easier to remember and for improving understanding of extended conversation.
Technological assistance
Many people with amnesia find it helpful to use a PDA, such as a Palm Treo, BlackBerry or iPhone. With some training and practice, even people with severe amnesia can use these electronic organizers to help with day-to-day tasks. For example, they can program the PDA to remind them about important events or to take medications.
Low-tech memory aids include notebooks, wall calendars, pill minders and photographs of people and places.
Medications or supplements
No medications are currently available for treating most types of amnesia. Because Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome involves a lack of thiamin, treatment includes replacing this vitamin and providing proper nutrition. Although treatment, which also needs to include alcohol abstinence, can help prevent further damage, most people won't recover all of their lost memory.
Researchers are investigating several neurotransmitters involved in memory formation, which may one day lead to new treatments for memory disorders. But the complexity of the brain processes involved makes it unlikely that a single medication will be able to resolve memory problems.
- Amnesias. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/print/sec16/ch210/ch210c.html. Accessed June 23, 2011.
- Davis PH. Transient global amnesia. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 6, 2011.
- Simon RP, et al. Disorders of cognitive function. In: Simon RP, et al. Clinical Neurology. 7th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=5143601. Accessed June 23, 2011.
- Miller BL, et al. Memory loss. In: Fauci AS, et al. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 17th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2885255. Accessed June 23, 2011.
- Svoboda E, et al. Compensating for anterograde amnesia: A new training method that capitalizes on emerging smartphone technologies. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. 2009;15:629.
Find Mayo Clinic on