CALLING all mobile phone losers, milk-forgetters and the car-park confused: here's a clinical research trial just for you!
If you're one of those people who are forever asking yourself "Where did I put my keys? What did I come to the supermarket for? Where did I park the car? What have I done with my phone?" you are not alone.
Forgetting the little things can simply be a symptom of a busy lifestyle and not a cause for concern.
But for some, it's small lapses like these that herald a condition known as mild cognitive impairment - one of the first signs of Alzheimer's disease.
The Royal Adelaide Hospital Memory Clinic and Memory Trials Centre is one of six Australasian sites tackling early memory loss by trialling a new investigational medication that could help slow the progression of the disease.
Consultant geriatrician and researcher Dr Robert Prowse runs the research trial, which is looking for people whose memory problems are just beginning.
Because the line between everyday forgetting and early memory loss is so fine, it can take a lot of work to find those who meet the criteria.
"Someone might forget where they parked their car or forget to take their grocery list. Little things like that," Dr Prowse said.
Often people have enough function to think around that and plan so it doesn't cause them a great deal of difficulty, so they can still manage themselves.
"When I ask people about this I try to get an idea of how severe the problem is to them.
"I'll ask, 'Do you think this interferes with your functioning and makes your day difficult or is it just intensely annoying that you can't quite as easily as you used to, recount a fact as quickly as you want to in the course of the conversation'.
"The people who feel their day-to-day life is being impacted are the ones we are really looking for."
Unlike many other clinical studies, this one is looking for people who may not even know they are unwell yet.
A website featuring an eye-catching elephant made from Post-It notes, has been put into commission for the recruitment drive.
A brief online quiz provides the first level of screening, the next stage of which involves progressively deeper interviews with research nurses and others, to find the right candidates. Finally, people are ruled in or out by a blood test and a PET brain scan.
People who take part in the clinical trial receive a thorough medical assessment and ongoing medical care.
Some participants will be given the medication that is being tested, in the hope it can slow the progression of memory loss. Others will receive a placebo, or "dummy" medication.
To be eligible for the trial, participants need to be aged 50-70, live in Adelaide, and have someone who can take them to appointments, among other criteria.
More information at www.remembertheelephant.com
To contact the Royal Adelaide Hospital Memory Clinic and Memory Trials Centre email RAHGeriatrics@mail.rah.sa.gov.au
