Cerebral palsy is the term for a group of neurological disorders that affects one s muscle movement and motor skills.

In most cases, the condition is caused due to a brain impairment that develops while the baby is still in the womb. Cerebral palsy may also occur shortly after or during birth.

Symptoms of Cerebral Palsy:

The signs and symptoms of the condition vary from one individual to another, ranging from mild to severe. The commonly observed ones in children are-

  Difficulty walking
  Difficulty holding on to objects
  Delay in developing motor skills- sitting up straight, rolling over, crawling
  Variation in the muscle tone- too stiff or too floppy
  Delay in development of speech
  Spasticity
  Lack of coordination of the muscles
  Difficulty swallowing and excessive drooling
  Functioning of only one side of the body
  Neurological ailments such as intellectual disabilities, seizures, and others

Types of Cerebral Palsy:

Cerebral palsy can occur in the following forms-

  Spastic cerebral palsy - Causes exaggerated reflexes and muscle stiffness. This is the most common type of cerebral palsy, affecting nearly 80% of the population.
  Dyskinetic cerebral palsy - Causes abnormal, involuntary movement of the legs, arms, and hands. It may also affect the movement of the tongue and face, thereby making it difficult to talk or swallow.
  Hypotonic cerebral palsy - Causes overly relaxed muscles and reduces muscle tone. The legs and arms are easily moveable and appear saggy.
  Ataxic cerebral palsy - This is the least common type. People living with this form of the condition have problems with coordination and balance.

Diagnosis and treatment of cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy can be diagnosed with the help of the following-

  CT scan
  MRI
  Ultrasound
  Electroencephalogram

Treatment of the condition depends on its severity. Long-term treatment includes physiotherapy, medications and surgery.

  Physiotherapy and occupational therapy helps restore muscle strength and improves muscle tone. You can try stretching exercises to improve flexibility.
  Usually, the doctor prescribes medications in the form of muscle relaxants and sedatives. Muscle relaxants reduce muscle tension, helps relieve discomfort and muscle pain.
  You may need to undergo an orthopaedic surgery in case medications and therapy does not yield positive results. The surgery will aim to release tight muscles and repair bone abnormalities caused due to spasticity.

The specialist as a last resort may recommend SDR or Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy to reduce spasticity and chronic pain. This involves operating the nerves at the base of your spinal column.

There is no permanent cure for cerebral palsy. However, the condition is manageable with the help of drugs, therapy and surgery. The kind of treatment required depends on your overall condition. While some may be able to live with the condition without much assistance, others may require immediate medical intervention. Therefore, it is best to consult an orthopaedic and get help if the symptoms deteriorate over time.

Cerebral Palsy - Symptoms, Types & Treatment Of It!

With age, just like other body functions, the mind too begins to slow down. This could lead to problems in communication, focus, recall, reasoning, and thinking. So with dementia, the person faces problems which are a combination of above-mentioned activities. Dementia is a symptom associated with many diseases and is not a disease on its own.

Alzheimer s is the main cause of dementia, followed by stroke or brain injury, Huntington s disease, and Lewy body disease. However, there are some symptoms that can be indicative that a person is gradually progressing into dementia. Watching out for these symptoms can help one seek help at an early stage, thereby helping the affected person, and slowing down its progress.

Short term memory loss: With age, people tend to forget what happened recently, and this can even be something as recent as the previous day. However, they can very clearly recollect events from the past. They might forget things like where they have placed their glasses, where the television remote control is, etc. They may also ask for the same information repeatedly, even after it is answered.
Mood changes: Rapid mood swings is observed in a person suffering from dementia. Their emotions keep changing within a matter of seconds, and they may show also less emotion than what they used to show previously.
Personality changes: Since dementia affects reasoning and judgment, someone who was earlier shy could suddenly become outgoing. Their inhibitions which led to a shy personality are lost, making them more outgoing.
Difficulty in performing regular tasks: Be it forgetting things like laying out tables, keeping things back in their places, or organising medical kits, with dementia setting in, these tasks slowly become more difficult to do. Also, learning new tasks, even simple ones, seem tough and are often not accomplished.
Losing storylines: The elderly would usually be good with telling and appreciating stories like telling tales to their grandchildren or following television soaps and stories. However, as dementia begins to set in, they tend to lose storylines, both when observing and telling.
Repeating actions: As they are not able to register things, they tend to repeat things, both in words and in actions.
Feeling lost: Things like heading out to a store to buy something and then wondering why they came there are common. Short-term memory loss can cause such situations. This confusion, especially with regard to time and things, is very common.
Spatial and time orientation: There could be problems relating to space and time, seasons, and they may often ask questions like what time it is, etc. Routine tasks like paying bills, cooking using recipe books, which were easily managed, suddenly begin to look difficult.
Apathy: Losing interest in people, hobbies, or other things like puzzles, which they once enjoyed, become boring and unenjoyable.

9 Early Symptoms of Dementia!

Epilepsy is a disorder of the central nervous system, thus it is basically a neurological disorder. In this the nerve cell activity of the brain is disrupted and causes seizures along with episodes of unusual behavior along with the loss of consciousness. The symptoms of the seizure can vary and some people with epilepsy just stare blankly for few seconds when a seizure takes place, while some twitch their arms and legs repeatedly.

Symptoms of Epilepsy:
As epilepsy is caused by the abnormal activities in the brain cells, seizures affect the processes with which the brain coordinates. Some signs and symptoms are:

Staring blankly
Confusion which is temporary
Uncontrolled jerking movements of the legs and arms
Loss of awareness and consciousness
Psychic symptoms
Mostly the symptoms vary depending on the type of the seizure. The seizures are further classified into focal and generalized depending on which part of the brain shows abnormal activity.
Focal seizures
When seizures are due to the abnormal activity of the cells in just one area then it is known as focal seizures. These seizures are of two types:

Simple partial seizures or the focal seizures without loss of consciousness. These seizures basically alter the emotions and the things like change in smell, look, sound and taste. These also result in the involuntary jerking of the body like the legs and arms, with spontaneous sensory symptoms like the tingling and flashing of the lights.
Complex partial seizures or the focal dyscognitive seizures. These seizures have a loss of awareness and consciousness. One might just stare blankly into space in this seizure and performs repetitive activities like swallowing, chewing, walking in circles and chewing.
Generalized seizures
There are six types of generalized seizures. These are:

Absence seizures, also known as petit mal seizures, are commonly seen in children and are characterized by subtle body movements like lip smacking and eye blinking and staring blankly into space. These also cause loss of consciousness.
Tonic seizures lead to stiffening of the muscles. These affect the muscles of the legs and arms and also cause to fall to the ground.
Atonic seizures are also called as drop seizures. These cause loss of control in the muscles, thereby leading to collapse or fall.
Clonic seizures are the rhythmic and jerking muscle movements. These affect the arms, face and neck.
Myoclonic seizures appear as twitches in the arms and legs.
Tonic-clonic seizures also known as grand mal seizures are very dramatic and lead to body stiffening, abrupt loss of consciousness, shaking and loss of bladder control and tongue biting.

Epilepsy - How Seizures Affect It?

The relationship between intelligence and brain size, both among people and between various species, has never been precisely well defined. People often believe that their outstanding psychological capacities must mean that they are superior to all animals as far as brain size is concerned. However, it is not true since whales and elephants have much bigger brains than humans and humans have the same brain-to-body mass proportion as mice do.

Here are a number of ways by which the brain size can be determined:

Encephalization remainder: Since it would be against human instinct to admit loss and defeat, researchers have created a measure to determine the brain size called the encephalization remainder. It is the proportion of actual brain mass with respect to the anticipated cerebrum mass for the animal s size (based on the suspicion that bigger animals require somewhat less brain matter with respect to their size, compared to little animals). By this metric, human beings prove to be the best, with an EQ of 7.5 outperforming the dolphin's 5.3 and the mouse's 0.5.
IQ testing: Without a solitary and evident method for measuring intelligence, some improved tests like IQ (Intelligence Quotient) are by and large acknowledged as a moderately decent working device. IQ estimations are not without issues, and there is a great deal of criticism about their significance. IQ testing uses government sanctioned tests, for example, the WAIS III (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale). The normal IQ is somewhere around 90 and 110. The scores beneath the normal may demonstrate changing degrees of pathology, for example, marginal intellectual function, or mental hindrance of different severity. Over the normal range is regularly connected with knowledge, splendour, talent, or genius. However, as with computers of a few eras, size and intellect do not precisely relate. Present day portable computers weighing around one or two kilogrammes can store more data and perform a greater number of assignments than supercomputers from the 1980s that used to possess expansive structures. This is a contrast amongst quantity and quality. Numerous scientists now hold the view that it is not the whole brain, which is bigger in a human with a higher IQ, yet rather certain zones that are denser and might be bigger. A fascinating late revelation is that these ranges can be expanded in size and enhanced in usefulness during the course of our life.
NeuroplasticityIt refers to the dynamic procedure of repair and maintenance that our brains are continually experiencing. We are conceived with around hundred billion neurones, yet lose around two hundred thousand a day to a procedure called pruning. As we develop and grow, pathways in the brain that are not required are detached, and the neurones pass on. However, in a compensatory procedure, new neurones are delivered and more detailed associations are built up between neurones that are more dynamic. This is the procedure of de-cluttering, in which our brains develop to work at most extreme effectiveness. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a Neurologist.

Brain Size - How It Is Related With Intelligence?

Headaches and migraines can vary drastically depending on their duration, specific symptoms and the person they are affecting. The more you know about your specific type of headache or migraine, the better prepared you will be to treat them and possibly even prevent them. The two types of migraine are- 

Migraine without aura: The majority of migraine sufferers have Migraine without Aura. 
Migraine with aura: Migraine with Aura refers to a range of neurological disturbances that occur before the headache begins, usually lasting about 20-60 minutes.
Symptoms of migraine vary and also depend on the type of migraine. A migraine has four stages: prodrome, aura, headache and postdrome. But it is not necessary that all the migraine sufferers experience all the four stages.

Prodrome: The signs of this begin to appear a day or two days before the headache starts. The signs include depression, constipation, food cravings, irritability, uncontrollable yawning, neck stiffness and hyperactivity.
Migraine Aura: Auras are a range of symptoms of the central nervous system. These might occur much before or during the migraine, but most people get a migraine without an aura. Auras usually begin gradually and increase in intensity. They last for an hour or even longer and are 

Visual: Seeing bright spots, various shapes, experiencing vision loss, and flashes of light
Sensory: Present in the form of touch sensations like feeling of pins and needles in the arms and legs
Motor: Usually related with the movement problems like the limb weakness
Verbal: It is related with the speech problems
Headache: In case of a migraine attack one might experience:

Pain on both sides or one side of the head
Pain is throbbing in nature
Vomiting and nausea
Sensitivity to smells, sound and light
Vision is blurred
Fainting and lightheadedness
Postdrome: This is the final phase of the migraine. During this phase one might feel fatigued, though some people feel euphoric.

Red flags that the patient may be having underlying serious disorder not migraine

Onset of headaches >50 years 
Thunderclap headache - subarachnoid haemorrhage 
Neurological symptoms or signs 
Meningism 
Immunosuppression or malignancy 
Red eye and haloes around lights - acute angle closure glaucoma 
Worsening symptoms 
Symptoms of temporal arteritis
These patients require CT scan / MRI or CSF examination. Most Migraine patients do not need these tests. 

Diagnosis of Migraine: Usually migraines go undiagnosed and thus are untreated. In case you experience the symptoms regularly then talk to the doctor, who evaluates the symptoms and can start a treatment. You can also be referred to a neurologist who is trained to treat the migraines and other conditions. During the appointment the neurologist usually asks about the family history of headaches and migraines along with your symptoms and medical history.

The doctor might advise for some tests like:

Blood Tests: These reveal problems with the blood vessel like an infection in the spinal cord and brain.
CT scan: Used to diagnose the infections, tumors, brain damage, and bleeding that cause the migraines.
MRI: This helps to diagnose the tumors bleeding infections, neurological conditions, and strokes.
Lumbar Puncture: For analyzing infections and neurological damages. In lumbar puncture a thin needle is inserted between the two vertebrae to remove a sample of the cerebrospinal fluid for analysis.
Treatments

Migraine treatments can help stop symptoms and prevent future attacks.

Many medications have been designed to treat migraines. Some drugs often used to treat other conditions also may help relieve or prevent migraines. Medications used to combat migraines fall into two broad categories:

Pain-relieving medications. Also known as acute or abortive treatment, these types of drugs are taken during migraine attacks and are designed to stop symptoms.
Preventive medications. These types of drugs are taken regularly, often on a daily basis, to reduce the severity or frequency of migraines.
Your treatment strategy depends on the frequency and severity of your headaches, the degree of disability your headaches cause, and your other medical conditions.

Some medications aren't recommended if you're pregnant or breast-feeding. Some medications aren't given to children. Your doctor can help find the right medication for you.

Migraine - Identifying the Early Signs!

Alzheimer's disease is a neurological problem that is characterised by a cognitive decline and memory loss. It is a type of neurodegenerative dementia. The symptoms of alzheimer's disease include not being able to absorb and retain new information, lack of reasoning and judging, not being able to take on complex tasks, impaired visuospatial abilities, problems in reading, writing and speech, among many others. If a person has at least two of these symptoms in a debilitating manner, then the diagnosis can be made in favour of alzheimer's disease. The main causes of alzheimer's are shrinkage of the brain size and death of the brain cells. The immune system is also said to trigger this neurodegenerative disease. Let us find out what medical science has found so far.

1. Connections: many a times, in alzheimer's disease, the memory and behaviour of the person changes because the brain is unable to make proper neural connections which can lead to memory loss of how a person behaved and the elements that formed the basis of the patient's cognition. Apparently, the immune system behaves in the same way within the brain and blocks the connection. This happens because there is constant communication between the brain and immune system along neurological lines, which is where the disease first emanates.

2. Inflammation: the brain is prone to inflammation or swelling that is not the normal kind. This inflammation happens as a result of the activation of the infection fighting neurotransmitters and the chemical changes that happen in the brain when an infection strikes. The inflammation usually happens in the plaques or clumps which the brain tries to protect. These clumps are made up of a protein called amyloid. The immune system is responsible for creating this inflammation in the brain of the patient.

3. Pattern recognition receptors: many of these receptors work in different manners and cooperate with each other to create a response in the brain. These prrs can be found in the brain plaques, and they develop the signs of danger which further fuels the inflammation in the brain as a matter of protection.

4. Activation of cells linked with the immune system: when the prrs begin to respond, it basically activates the immune system and the cells of the same. This is the basic reaction that causes the changes in brain which then leads to the attachment of the protein to the tissue that is diseased, in which case alzheimer's disease starts. The inflammation that we had spoken about earlier basically happens in the nervous tissue.

It is important to recognise and act on the initial signs of alzheimer's disease before it progresses beyond one's control.

Can the Immune System Trigger Alzheimer's Disease

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