Investigative Journalist Chronicles Her Own Memory Loss

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published April 24, 2007 at 10:41 AM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

Memory loss seems to go hand in hand with aging, but when should you be concerned about it? Do the signs of a waning memory warn of Alzheimer's? We speak with investigative journalist Cathryn Jakobson

Guest Host Alan Ray: Just because you have a cough and sniffles, doesn't mean you have a cold. Time will tell and you'll recover.

Just because you're experiencing some memory loss doesn't mean you have Alzheimer's disease. But, if you do, you won't recover. So the symptoms can be a lot scarier and the outcome confused. It would even be humiliating, if you still could be aware of such things.

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Cathryn Jakobson Ramin was worried. She was closing in on 50, and she was having memory lapses. Her journey -- and those of other men and women -- through the frightening landscape of memory lapse is chronicled in her new book Carved in Sand: .When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife .

Cathryn Jakobson Ramin will be reading from her book, Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades into Midlife at 7:30 p.m. this evening (Tuesday 24th) at Warwick's Bookstore in La Jolla.

Guest

Cathryn Jakobson Ramin, journalist for 25 years and author of Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades into Midlife.