Are Medications Muddling Up Your Memory?

[David Baxter PhD]

Are Medications Muddling Up Your Memory?
May 3, 2008

Don?t panic if you find yourself occasionally taking one or two of the medications listed below. Do panic if you find yourself taking them indefinitely. There is an inevitable biochemical price to pay for every medication taken. As it goes in the macroscopic world - so it is in our micro-molecular environment. The trick of course is to achieve the maximum amount of good with the minimum amount of medication.

Some medications are so efficient at erasing memory that they are prescribed for that very purpose. Propranolol for instance is a non-selective ?-blocker ordinarily used for blood-pressure, heart rate control and persistent migraine. However, in the setting of post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD), propranolol is very effective at eliminating intrusive memories caused by emotional trauma. That?s great if you have memories that need forgetting, otherwise it?s just a nasty side-effect you can do without.

Most anti-anxiety drugs are also capable of messing with memory. They have by design an ?amnestic? property (anterograde amnesia) which makes them useful for treating anxious patients before certain medical procedures (CT scan, MRI for example), but not a great sleep aid. Used chronically benzodiazepines such as diazepam (Valium), interfere with the various stages of sleep, including REM sleep. REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is when critical components of memory consolidation occur for spatial and procedural memory in particular.

President Reagan is purported to have had an affinity for the benzodiazepine Halcion. Halcion is a very short acting anti-anxiety drug with some unusual side-effects. The ?Our Man In Nirvana? article in the link above goes into greater detail. Halcion is now banned in several countries including the UK.

The class of drugs known as sedative-hypnotics have given rise to a plethora of bizarre complex sleep-related behaviors. There are now numerous reported cases of people ?sleep-driving?, ?sleep-eating?, engaging in ?sleep-sex? and even ?sleep-phone calling?, with no memory for the events later. These drugs work primarily in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), a region of the brain in front of the hypothalamus responsible for regulating our built-in circadian rhythms. Interrupting circadian rhythms can result in everything from simple jet-lag to serious mental health and mood disorders.

Don?t stop taking a medication just because you find it in the list below. Do take this list to your doctor and explore your options from a treatment standpoint. Very often an acceptable substitute can be found for the offending drug, or this may the time to give some non-drug alternatives a try.

Drop a comment (or two), if you need some help finding alternative treatment options. I?ll do my best to help.

Analgesics:
meperidine (Demerol),
hydrocodone (Vicodin),
oxycodone (Percocet, Oxycontin)

Antianxiety drugs:
alprazolam (Xanax),
diazepam (Valium)
lorazepam (Ativan)
oxazepam (Serax)
temazepam (Restoril)
triazolam (Halcion)

Anticholinergics:
oxybutinin (Ditropan, Oxytrol)

Antidepressants:
amitriptyline (Elavil)
imipramine (Tofranil)

Antihistamines:
diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
pseudophedrine (Sudafed)

Antinausea drugs:
hydroxyzine (Atarax)
meclizine (Antivert)
metoclopramide (Reglan)
prochlorperazine (Compazine)

Antihypertensives:
atenolol (Tenormin)
propranolol (Inderal)
metoprolol (Toprol)

Antipsychotics:
chlorpromazine (Thorazine)
haloperidol (Haldol)
thioridazine (Mellaril)

Antiulcer drugs:
ranitidine (Zantac)
cimetidine (Tagamet)

Parkinson's:
amantadine (Symmetrel)

Seizure medications:
carbamazepine (Tegretol)
gabapentin (Neurontin)
valproic acid (Depakote)
pregabalin (Lyrica)
oxcarbazepine (Trileptal)

Sedative/Hypnotics:
zolpidem (Ambien)
eszopiclone (Lunesta)
ramelteon (Rozerem)

 

[Kanadiana]

Would Tylenol 3's come under the analgesics? (Tylenol 3 has codiene and I see oxycodone and such in that list)

- I also JUST found out that T3's have caffiene in them (for coffee drinkers, like myself, who take T3's good to know! I've been needing to use a lot of painkillers (T3's) for a couple of months, almost daily, since stopping prednisone, which caused (a common ocurance after long term use of prednisone) a big non-stopping kind of extra flaring of RA and fibro stuff. Very disabling and painful, otherwise I hate taking anything, especially strong stuff, and have to be really suffering before I do, though T3's considered "weak" in comparison to the prescription requrement for the other codiene meds. T3's just take the edge off and I just take enough to reach the point of still pretty painful but I can MOVE my body parts and tolerate enough to function for what i need.

Thanks

 

[ladylore]

amitriptyline (Elavil) - I am taking this one. And I have been having strange memory problems.

 

[Retired]

The question of Tylenol (acetomenophen) affecting memory is curently the subject of a clinical study: Acetaminophen (Tylenol) for Mood and Memory Changes Associated With Corticosteroid Therapy - Tabular View - ClinicalTrials.gov

 

[braveheart]

Propranolol didn't take away my PTSD memories, just buried them so I could stop panicking about them for a short while!

My mum's been on a low dose of amitriptyline for over 20 years, due to trigeminal neuralgia, and does have mamory issues. Although that could also be part of her age - 72, and her own denial issues/PTSD stuff.

 

[Misha]

Wow that's a list!! Even things like ranitidine!
I had huge memory problems with lorazepam (ativan).... and zopiclone was terrible too. Thorazine... that's a bad one.
Right now my meds are wonderful... I'm only on a low dose of fluoxetine (prozac), and some quetiapine (seroquel) at night. No memory problems... not that I remember anyways!! :funny:

 

[Kanadiana]

I didn't see Zoloft (sertraline) on the list, but I was on that for a year once. Not only was my memory effected, I think my whole mind was just gone too! I was quite blotto and emotionally flat/unresponsive and slow moving no energy on the stuff. Anxiety not a problem at all on the stuff

The question of Tylenol (acetomenophen) affecting memory is curently the subject of a clinical study: Acetaminophen (Tylenol) for Mood and Memory Changes Associated With Corticosteroid Therapy - Tabular View - ClinicalTrials.gov

TSOW, a very interesting reading! Thanks. Never heard of prednisone/memory connected before.

March 25 was my last dose of prednisone after longterm use on it. I was also on other meds (a couple of disease modifiers and other stuff) and my memory has been pretty frustrating/annoying and a plain drag sometimes when I've needed to remember things and couldn't on demand. Forget the stove on. Forget to turn it on. Forget something baking or cooking. That level gets to be a worry when living alone ... Have had lots of little short-term (I guess) memory "glitches" I call them. Fibromyalgia can also cause a fibrofog ... plus I'm aging ... so hard to know which is the culprit ... likely, in my case a few of what I mentioned

By the way, I never did any "manic" thing on the prednisone but when dose was high I definately buzzed/hyper like I had drunk tons of strong coffee and was very hungry all the time ... my blood pressure also shot up to 170/101, my feet blew up like pontoons, etc, so that was obviously a bit too high a dose for me.

Anyways, thanks for posting for that study. I'm glad i read it.

 

[Retired]

I had huge memory problems with lorazepam (ativan)....

At what dose and after what period of time? What type of memory complication did you experience..was it past memory or memory following taking the medication (referred to as anterograde amnesia)?

 

[Retired]

thanks for posting for that study. I'm glad i read it.

Kanadiana,

I found the article fascinating as well. It will be intersting to learn the aoutcome of the study, if it reaches conclusion.

 

[Kanadiana]

Kanadiana,

I found the article fascinating as well. It will be intersting to learn the aoutcome of the study, if it reaches conclusion.

I totally agree. The stuff about the prednisone especially interesting to me. Geez ... I've thought I was on the prednisone about a year and a bit ... but when I just checked some old prescription bottles, almost 2 years. Scarey. Lousy memory, eh?

 

[Misha]

At what dose and after what period of time? What type of memory complication did you experience..was it past memory or memory following taking the medication (referred to as anterograde amnesia)?

I was "supposed" to be taking I think 1mg every four-six hours prn. It started out that way, but then I started abusing it and would take as many as 12 at a time several times a day. That's probably why. Honestly, I don't even remember the details of what the memory loss was like. I know it started even before I was abusing it, though. I have almost no memory of several months of that time in my life.

 

[Retired]

1mg every four-six hours prn

At that dosage level, you are close to the recommended daily max. In fact, according to my understanding of this medication and it's pharmaco kinetics, there is probably little therapeutic benefit to prescribing lorazepam every 4 to 6 hours. This medication is usually prescribed prn (as needed) once a day or every 12 hours Max!

I started abusing it and would take as many as 12 at a time several times a day

At this dosage level, it is quite likely you experienced anterograde amnesia, which is loss of memory for events immediately following taking the medication.

This medication is sometimes used by anesthetists in order to produce drug induced anterograde amnesia at significantly higher doses than the standard therapeutic doses. This would be done in a surgical setting, in hospital where a patients vital signs are being monitored.

However based on the information you provided, it is likely you achieved this effect unwittingly and would certainly not be recommended.

Do you have this situation under control at this time?

 

[Misha]

Steve,
Yes, I have it under control now. I stay far away from ativan and any related drugs. I will take an ativan if I'm in hospital and desperate to sleep, like if I'm feeling suicidal/self-harm-ish and spend the night in emerg. Even then I find it hard to not go back on it... I just love the feeling. Even if I take one it really affects my ability to think clearly, though, and I've managed to stay away for some time now.

 

[Retired]

Glad to hear you are in contril, Misha! You must be pleased with your accomplishment.

:2thumbs: