Memory loss can be a temporary or permanent condition and can affect your ability to remember things that happened long ago or more recently. According to the National Institutes of Health's MedlinePlus information service, several different areas of your brain control memory; if you sustain damage to one or several of these memory centers, you could suffer from memory loss. The causes of memory loss in children can be very similar to the reasons for adult-onset memory loss.
Hydrocephalus
The November-December 2005 issue of "Pediatric Nursing" reports that a condition called hydrocephalus can contribute to memory loss in children. Hydrocephalus is a situation in which too much cerebrospinal fluid develops around the brain. Shunts are used to remove the excess fluid. People can be born with this condition or can acquire it during childhood. Short-term memory loss and other cognitive changes can be a sign of hydrocephalus and can also occur if a child with a shunt develops an infection.
Seizures
If your child has epilepsy or another seizure disorder, she may suffer from memory loss after a seizure or corrective surgery. One of the types of epilepsy surgery that is used to reduce the frequency and severity of seizures is called a temporal lobectomy. Elizabeth M.S. Sherman of the British Columbia Children's Hospital in Canada addresses the issue of memory loss in lobectomy patients. She states that studies in children under the age of 16 lost some level of verbal memory post-surgery but tended to retain non-verbal memory function. Children who have better verbal memory scores before surgery seemed to lose more verbal memory in the end. Children are less likely to suffer from memory loss after epilepsy surgery than adults.
Brain Tumor
Boston's Children's Hospital estimates that more than 2,000 children and teens receive a brain tumor diagnosis every year. Brain tumors can be cancerous or benign, but both types of growth can be life-threatening and cause uncomfortable and disturbing symptoms. Supratentorial is the term given to a brain tumor that grows in the front part of the brain, the cerebellum. One of the signs of a supratentorial brain tumor in a child is short-term memory loss.
Vitamin Deficiency
Your child could suffer from memory loss and more severe dementia if he is not getting enough vitamin B12, explains the Linus Pauling Institute. Vitamin B12 is essential to the normal development of myelin, a substance that protects your nerves and neurotransmitters. Though a deficiency in this nutrient is more common in adults older than 60, children can also become deficient in cases of severe malnutrition. Recommended daily intake of vitamin B12 in children range from 0.4 mcg in infants under a year old to 2.4 mcg in the teen years.
References
- Children's Hospital Boston: Brain Tumors
- First International Congress on Neuropsychology in Internet: Neurocognitive Outcome After Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery: A Review of the Literature
- "Pediatric Nursing"; Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt Infections in Patients With Hydrocephalus; Cindy Julius Simpkins; Nov.-Dec. 2005.
- Medline Plus: Memory Loss
- Linus Pauling Institute: Vitamin B-12
