Neurological Diseases: Overview of Major Disorders
Neurological diseases affect the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. Key examples:
- Alzheimer's Disease: Progressive neurodegenerative dementia; amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles; memory loss → global cognitive decline.
- Parkinson's Disease: Dopaminergic neuron loss in substantia nigra; tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, postural instability; non-motor symptoms (autonomic, cognitive).
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS): Autoimmune demyelination (CNS); relapsing-remitting or progressive; fatigue, weakness, vision loss, sensory symptoms.
- Stroke: Ischemic (87%) or hemorrhagic; sudden focal neurologic deficit. Time-critical reperfusion.
- Epilepsy: Recurrent unprovoked seizures; focal or generalized; many etiologies.
- Huntington's Disease: Autosomal dominant CAG repeat (HTT); chorea, psychiatric, cognitive decline.
- ALS (Lou Gehrig's): Upper + lower motor neuron degeneration; progressive weakness, respiratory failure; 2–5 yr survival.
- Meningitis/Encephalitis: Infection/inflammation of meninges/brain; fever, headache, altered mental status, neck stiffness.
- Peripheral Neuropathy: Length-dependent sensory/motor/autonomic; diabetes #1 cause; also autoimmune, toxic, genetic.
Common Threads
- Early diagnosis improves outcomes (stroke, MS, treatable neuropathies).
- Multidisciplinary care (neurology, PT/OT, neuropsych, palliative).
- Research advancing: disease-modifying therapies (Alzheimer's anti-amyloid, MS DMTs, gene therapy for SMA/ALS).
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