Name: Balance Brain Health
Address: Calgary Alberta Canada, AB
Telephone: (403) 764-0771

MCI Clinic in Calgary and Cognitive Impairment

Aging brings on a host of changes, including an increased risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is the stage between normal age-related changes in cognitive abilities and other conditions that impact one’s ability to live independently, like Alzheimer’s disease. People experience a slight decline in their mental abilities in MCI, including problems with memory, language, and judgment. While these problems can be noticeable to you and your loved ones they don’t obstruct the individual’s abilities to carry out their daily activities. Although there is not one factor that definitively causes MCI, conditions like diabetes, a stroke, or depression can increase your risk of developing MCI. Still, there are ways to adapt to these changes, and health professionals at your local MCI clinic in Calgary can help support the difficulties you may be experiencing.

Although you can still perform daily activities when you have developed MCI, you should be aware of the treatments, outcomes, and symptoms.

Symptoms of MCI

The signs and symptoms of MCI can vary depending on the cause and underlying neurological process, but often these changes aren’t explicit and visible to others. Even so, a shift in memory and pacing when it comes to tasks can become noticeable to you and your loved ones, as well as changes to your personality or language skills. Some symptoms that may warrant further discussion with your family doctor include:

You begin to forget things more frequently
You begin to feel more overwhelmed at following directions, completing tasks, and making decisions
You begin to lose your train of thought mid-conversation and become a bit adrift during discussions, movies, or television shows
You forget about appointments or dates of social events
You find yourself regularly misplacing items

Alongside these symptoms, you may feel more anxious and irritable than usual and depressed.

Diagnosis

When you or your loved ones begin to notice symptoms that align with MCI, your doctor can do a series of tests and assessments to help determine what is causing this cognitive impairment. These assessments will measure your reflexes, walking and balance, and the ability to remember. While causation may not always be available, your impairment can be caused by certain medications or underlying conditions that can be treated. Your doctor may also order additional neuroimaging, such as a PET scan, to help determine whether the MCI is an early stage of some other condition.

It remains imperative that you talk to your medical provider when you notice something is amiss concerning any of your cognitive functions.

Treatments

While there are no specific cures or drugs you can take to reverse your MCI symptoms, intervention programs can be sought at any MCI clinic in Calgary. These clinics can offer strategies to improve memory loss and provide essential information about memory loss and what activities and lifestyle changes can be practiced and adopted to help. Furthermore, it is important to discuss treating other conditions that interfere with cognitive functions with your family doctor, such as high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and depression. Or, if the medications you’re taking are causing cognitive changes, you can work with your doctor to figure out a viable solution.

Outcomes

While your mild cognitive impairment is dependent on certain factors, whether it can progress to a more impairing condition can be determined by tests from your doctor and other health professionals. Because there is a chance that MCI can progress, it may be helpful to monitor possible changes on a yearly basis. More so, you can work with your doctor and specialists at MCI clinics to adopt methods to help with memory loss and other cognitive and emotional challenges.

Having a support system

Surrounding yourself with loved ones aware of what you and your partner are going through can take away some of the weight you are carrying. Taking the time to spend with loved ones away from your injured partner will also give you time to relax, vent your emotional grievances, and allow you to feel their earned support. Asking loved ones to care for your injured partner when you are unable can also give you time to yourself without the threat of exhaustion consuming you. No one should ever have to go through times of stress without relying on loved ones who will help curate a healthy, positive environment for both you and your injured partner.

Set boundaries

When supporting someone that has suffered from an injury and the trauma that results from that, you also need to keep your own health in mind and set boundaries. Caring for your loved one day in and day out, or if your loved one is prone to lashing out on bad days, you must consider how these accumulated events might impact your mental health. Setting clear and ardent boundaries with your loved one can reduce the risk of a contentious relationship forming and exhaustion. Don’t push yourself too much and tell your loved one what your expectations are in how they treat you.

Coping mechanisms

Adopting coping strategies for you and your loved one can help you sustain a healthy relationship. Breathing techniques, meditation, avoidance of negative thoughts, and wishful thinking are healthy coping mechanisms to reduce stress and pessimism that might arise after an injury. Taking time out of your day to do any physical activity can also be great in reducing stress, and setting aside light activities to do yourself or with your loved one can enhance your relationship.

Don’t neglect self-care

When caring for a loved one with an injury, it is vital not to neglect to tend to yourself as well. Do things you enjoy, whether by yourself or not, and perform tasks that will better your wellbeing. Self-care can include following a skin-care regime, cooking, reading, or any activity that brings you joy. When pouring yourself into caring for another person, you should always set time aside to fulfill your own needs.

Seek professional help

If you find your mental health declining after the injury of your loved one, talking to a therapist or visiting a local mental health clinic sometimes is necessary to improve your health. Talking to a professional can give you coping mechanisms that can be helpful for you and your loved one to adopt into your daily lives. The more you can cope with the traumatic injury of a loved one, the more you will be equipped to help them manage as well.

Balance: Psychology & Brain Health can help you find balance in your life by maximizing functioning and minimizing disability through holistic, evidence-based, and client-centred care. Calgary cognitive psychologists and neuropsychologists Calgary offer cognitive assessments, behavioural therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy in Calgary, and insomnia therapy in Calgary. By utilizing a biopsychosocial model, we specialize in assessing, preventing, and treating factors that can negatively affect your brain health. This includes keeping in mind the biological (e.g. genetics, neurochemistry, medical conditions), psychological (e.g. mood, personality, coping skills), and socio-environmental factors (e.g. culture, social support, education) that individually and collectively impact our well-being. Call (403) 764-0771 today to book at our neuropsychology clinic, chronic pain clinic Calgary or MCI clinic Calgary.