People who experience memory loss may also experience other symptoms at the same time. These additional symptoms may be the result of brain damage that not only affects memory, but other functions as well. For example, behavioral and personality changes (e.g., irritability, confusion, moodiness) may occur alongside memory loss in patients with dementia.

Additional symptoms are sometimes related to psychological conditions that may be causing the memory loss. For example, patients with post-traumatic stress disorder may experience anxiety, nightmares and insomnia in addition to memory loss.

There are many additional symptoms that can occur in patients with memory loss. Some of these other symptoms include:

• Aphasia. Inability to communicate and understand language. When certain areas of the brain become damaged, patients may forget words and have difficulty communicating with or understanding others. This symptom may accompany memory loss in many different neurological conditions, including brain tumors and Alzheimer’s disease.
  
  
• Apraxia. Loss of motor function. This symptom is usually progressive when it occurs in patients with neurological conditions. Apraxia may occur with memory loss in conditions such as dementia and head injuries.
  
  
• Seizures. Involuntary muscle contractions due to excessive electrical activity in the brain. Memory loss and seizures may occur together, such as in some cases of epilepsy and substance abuse.
  

  

• Agnosia. Inability to recognize familiar people, objects or sensory information. For example, a patient experiencing agnosia may be unable to recognize signals from the body, such as when the bladder is full, certain smells or pain signals. Agnosia is a relatively rare symptom, although it may occur with memory loss in some instances, such as in some cases of stroke.