NEUROLOGICAL DISEASES YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT


STROKE


Stroke is one of the foremost killers in the United States today. There are differnt types of stroke; some involve blockage of blood supply to parts of the brain, and some involve bleeding into the brain. Stroke is truly one of the most devastating of all acute diseases. Modern science has provided us with the means to find out the risk factors and treat them before a stroke happens; once you have had a stroke or a ministroke, the chances of getting another, bigger stroke are much higher and testing needs to be done aggressively to look for risk factors, since many of these second time strokes are preventable.

DEMENTIA


While stroke is the most devastating acute illness, dementia is by far one of the saddest illnesses, where your memory and your cognition fails.Dementia can be due to diseases in the brain itself or due to disorders elsehere in the body. Many of the causes of dementia are treatable,and it is always important to look for the treatable causes of dementia. The key is in timely diagnosis and treatment.

PARKINSONISM


Everyone is familiar with this crippling illness, one of the latest victims being TV celebrity Michael J Fox. It is important to realize that Parkinsons disease is only one among a wide spectrum of Parkinonian diseases, which superficially resemble one another, but for which the treatments are markedly different. While the disease itself is not curable, the key to treatment lies in slowing down the disease to the lowest levels possible, so that the person can get on with his or her life.




MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS


One of the oldest of Neurological diseases, MS today still ravages millions of people.Multiple sclerosis destroys the myelin which is the insulation that the neurons in the brain use, with devastating results to all the intricate circuitry in the brain. Thankfully today we have better means of diagnosing and treating MS than ever before, and there are multiple "disease modifying" drugs and there is intense research going on for more.


SEIZURES


Seizures happen due to uncontrolled electrical discharges from your brain. There are various types of seizures, depending on the clinical presentation, the pattern of spread of electrical activity , the changes it produces to your consciousness and the pattern seen on the EEG test (the "brain-wave test") Numerous medications are available today and we are much better off today than we were 10 years back.


NERVE DISEASES


There are dozens of nerve diseases; some come on suddenly , overnight and can paralyze you, and some creep up on you and pester you with numbness or pain in your feet or arms. Many of these are treatable, though some tend to the resistant to treatment. Some of these nerve diseases affect the axons, which are the "wires" that carry electrical signals from your brain and spinal cord to your muscles; some others affect the myelin which is the "insulation" on those wires; damage to either one leads to severe problems. Some nerve diseases are due to illnesses elsewhere in the body, which varies from diabetes to cancer and occasionally the symptoms from the nerves may be the early warning signals.


MUSCLE DISEASES


These cause weakness and tiredness or muscle cramps . There are many of these; they could be due to inflammation in the muscles,or due to diseases elsewhere in the body or could be inherited diseases. Treatment varies and the key lies in accurate diagnosis.


MIGRAINE


The spectrum of headaches encompasses a large list of diseases, migriane being just one of them. The others include Cluster headaches, tension headaches, Trigeminal neuralgia, Paroxysmal hemicranial headaches, etc. Some of these respond well to treatment and some others dont. Some of them, while they are no fun to have, are relatively benign, while some others are ominous and need immediate care. While aggressive care of the pain is important it is also important to minimize use of any habit forming medications.


SPINAL CORD DISEASES


There is a multitude of diseases that can affect the spinal cord. These can present with weakness or numbness or pain. The problem may be in the spincal cord itself or it may be in the coverings of the cord or it may be in the adjacent bones. Timely diagnosis is critical and means the difference between a cure and crippling debility.