A Brain Tumour can be defined as an abnormal growth of the tissues in the brain, which can disrupt the proper brain functions. Generally, the cells in the human body die and are replaced by new cells, while in the case of a tumour, the old cells do not die and form an accumulation and continues to grow to form a mass as more and more cells are added to it.

Symptoms of Brain Tumour:

Headache: Having headache on regular basis, without any history of having such frequent headaches in past, which becomes worse because of other pressure related activities, such as sneezing, coughing, exercising might be a possible symptom of brain tumour and issues related to such sudden and frequent headaches should be taken up with the doctor without any further delay.
Seizures: Seizures (fits) are amongst the most common symptoms of brain tumour, which might be limited to a particular body part or the whole body. Seizures might even continue after the treatment of brain tumour because of the left scar tissues in the brain.
Numbness in arms/legs: Numbness in any body part, especially arms and legs should also be get evaluated timely, so that, if the possible reason behind them is a brain tumour, then the same could be treated well on time.
Balancing problems: Poor coordination and balancing problems also arise as the most prominent symptom for the brain tumour and hence such small changes must be evaluated and the person suffering should be taken to a doctor immediately to get treated without any delay.
Memory problems: Lack of concentration, poor memory and short term memory loss are few of the possible symptoms that indicate the presence of tumour.
Nausea or vomiting: Nausea or vomiting might be the symptoms of many other possible health issues, but a headache supported by nausea and/or vomiting is one of the many symptoms of a brain tumour and hence should not be ignored.
Facial paralysis: The inability to keep the facial activities under control also indicates the presence of a possible brain tumour and the same should also be diagnosed as soon as one experiences it.
Change in vision: A person suffering from brain tumour might also experience changes in the vision, dizziness, blurry vision, among other sight related issues.
Change in speech: The inability to speak properly and changes in the speech of a person may also indicate a possible presence of a tumour.
Hearing problems: Sudden occurrence of hearing problems and other hearing related disorders might have the brain tumour as a possible reason.
Diagnosing a brain tumour may include one or more of many tests, including CT scan, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Angiogram and biopsy. One should never ignore the symptoms of the brain tumour and should get himself/herself checked since the brain tumours might result into permanent damages to the brain; hence such issues should never be ignored.

Do You Think You are Suffering from Brain Tumor? 10 Signs You Must Take Seriously

Autism spectrum disorders are a group of severe neurological and developmental disorders which begin in early childhood and can last throughout a person s life. It affects the ability to interact with others and also hinders communication and well as learning ability. A proper health center can diagnose the presence of autism spectrum disorder early on. Many tests are available for evaluation and diagnosis as it is a range of disorders which can have a variety of symptoms. The environment and genetics also play a role in the development of autism spectrum disorder but the exact cause of autism spectrum disorder is not yet known.

Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder:

Your child may not be able to respond when called by his or her name by 12 months age.
Will avoid eye contact and also have the desire to stay alone.
Have trouble understanding or relating to other people or talk about their own feelings.
Delayed speech and language skills which would affect the ability to speak.
Show unusual reaction to sound, smell, taste or feelings.
Answering questions with unrelated answers that have no meaning or link.
Prefer to play alone and would avoid physical contact.

Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder:

Comprehensive Diagnostic Evaluation   The behavior of your child and development is first studied by the doctor in detail. The tests include genetic testing, neurological testing, hearing and vision testing among others. Doctors may also suggest other specialized tests in certain cases.
Developmental Screening   The development of your child s basic learning skills with respect to the age is checked. The doctor checks for some delays in the progress and will also monitor movement, behavior and speaking progress of the child. Some additional checks are also done for low birth weight, premature birth among other things.
Treatment:

Applied behavioral analysis   This is a notable treatment and widely accepted by doctors all over the world. ABA is known to encourage positive behaviors and improves a variety of skills in a child.
Occupational Therapy   Teaches the skills to live independently like eating, dressing and social skills. This can help people afflicted by autism spectrum disorders to lead a normal life within the society and thus relate to as well as interact with other people.
Speech therapy   It improves and focuses primarily on communication skills and also uses picture boards and gestures to improve the abilities and induce learning skills.

Autism Spectrum Disorder - How To Diagnose It?

One of the best pleasures of life is to watch a child grow up and begin to learn and explore new things in the surroundings. However, children affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism may not be able to do this at the same pace as other kids. They are a little slow to respond and may not socialise very easily.

ASD is a collective term used for a range of symptoms, including poor verbal and nonverbal communication, poor social skills, repetitive behaviour, and impaired learning abilities. The onset and severity of symptoms also vary across children. While some show symptoms in preschool, others would be completely normal and start showing symptoms after a couple of years of schooling. The following are some symptoms that indicate the child could have autism.

Lack of babbling by 9 months of age
No response when called by their name even after 12 months of age
Not uttering single words by the age of 16 months, two words by 24 months
Lack of social skills including resistance to cuddling, not mingling with other kids
Self-injurious behaviour like banging head on the wall, hurting a toy, etc.
Homeopathy offers safe, effective remedy for children with autism. Treatment regime is highly customised based on underlying and accompanying symptoms of each patient. The following are commonly used ingredients; however, self-medication is best avoided.

Agaricus: The child talks and sings but does not respond. There is indifference, fearlessness, shouting, constant jerking of the head, difficulty reading, possible double vision and feels awkward physically and mentally.
Carcinosin: The child is obstinate and has compulsive obsessive tendencies. It is hyperactive, does not sleep, has addictive tendencies, and likes to drink milk which worsens the symptoms.
Androctonus: The child is destructive, suspicious, mischievous, but very quick to respond. The child behaves very well at times and can be very naughty at other times.
Helleborus: The child is generally weak, slow to respond, appears thoughtless, often stares into air, and looks depressed with involuntary sighing and habit of lip biting. Sight, hearing, and taste could be affected.
Cuprum Metallicum: The child is extremely tense, irritable, rigid, malicious, and very difficult to handle. Does not like to be touched or spoken to or played with. Can be aggressive with the parents, driving them to despair. 
May have tics infestation on the scalp.
Another recent approach is the CEASE (Complete Elimination Autism Spectrum Expression) Therapy. This combines homoeopathy with orthomolecular medicines that provide the required nutrition for brain development (vitamins, minerals, Omega 3 fatty acids, etc.) This helps in overall brain development and restoring function in affected children. As noted, the right potency of these products will determine the response to treatment.

Autism Spectrum - How Homeopathy Can Help?

With age, most body organs begin to deteriorate in their function. This happens to the brain also, thereby reducing the overall speed of functioning of most organs. While slowing of bodily movement is visible, the internal organs functioning also slows down, which is not that obvious. Memory loss or dementia is one of the main manifestations of this degeneration of the brain.

Alzheimer s is the most common form of dementia, and the associated symptoms includes reduced reasoning abilities and cognitive defects. Though it is seen only in the elderly, not all elderly people will have Alzheimer s. The overall quality of life of the affected person is reduced with difficulty remembering things that were recently learned. It is a progressive disease and as it gets more severe, a full-time caretaker may be required.

Causes: The brain cells are affected by protein masses known as plaques and tangles. These hamper the way communication between the brain cells happens as well as affect nutrition from reaching all parts of the brain. This leads to shrinking of the brain, eventually leading to memory loss and other problems. There is also a strong genetic linkage, as most people with Alzheimer s have the lipoprotein A gene.

Symptoms: Though memory loss is the most common symptom, there are other symptoms:

Being confused about places, people, and times
Inability to find the right words during conversations
Regular objects are misplaced
Becoming irritable, (in someone who was not so previously)
Mood swings
Personality changes
Inability to organise thoughts
Not able to make the right decisions
Repetitive talks and actions
Forgetfulness (not something the person always does)
Difficulty with numbers (again, not something calculations
Difficulty managing everyday tasks and minor problems
Suspicion of others (like immediate family members and friends)
Risk factors: While age is definitely a risk factor, the fact that not all aged people develop Alzheimer s is to be borne in mind. Other risk factors include the history of stroke, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, obesity, and poor lifestyle choices.

Diagnosis: While there is no definitive way to diagnose Alzheimer s, symptoms along with brain scans and neuropsychological function testing are useful ways to confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment: This is aimed at two things reducing the rate of disease progression and treat (or reverse) symptoms if possible.

Cholinesterase inhibitors improve cellular communication in the brain and also manage depression and agitation. Memantine is used to slow the pace of disease progression.
In people with the disease, small changes are useful to help them with the symptoms. These include keeping essential things like keys and wallet in the same place, keep a daily diary to help them remember things, keep pictures of friends and family within visible distance.

Alzheimer's - An Overview!

Epilepsy is a disease that affects the brain's nerve cells and triggers the release of abnormal electrical signals. This can cause temporary malfunctioning of the other brain cells and result in seizures and sometimes loss of consciousness. Epilepsy can affect both children and adults.

Causes of Epilepsy

The cause of this condition isn t very evident; however, few causes of epileptic seizures to metion are brain tumours, injury, infections in the brain or birth defects. Some doctors believe that epilepsy is caused due to genetic mutations and is an outcome of abnormal activity of cells in the brain. Other causes for this condition can be alcohol or narcotics withdrawal and electrolyte problems.

 Symptoms

Repeated seizures

Impaired memory

Bouts of fainting

Short spans of blackout

Sudden bouts of blinking and chewing

Panic

Inappropriate repetitive movements

Types of Seizures
A seizure, also known as fit, is usually a brief episode characterised by uncontrollable jerking movement and loss of awareness due to abnormal neuronal activity in your brain. A collective occurrence of these seizures causes epilepsy.

 There are three types of seizures based on aetiology:

Idiopathic: This kind of seizure has no apparent cause.

Cryptogenic: The doctors believe that there is a cause for the seizure but cause cannot be detected.

Symptomatic: These seizures occur due to a reason, as a symptom of some neuro-medical condition.

Role of Homeopathy

Homeopathy is a form of healing based upon the principle of  Similia similibus curentur  or  like cures like . It was founded by a German doctor, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann in 1810. Homoeopathy offers vast scope in the treatment of various illnesses, both acute and chronic including epilepsy. Homeopathy takes into account the entire person like the patients family history, past history, etc. Homoeopathic doctors study each case thoroughly, analyze and evaluate the symptoms and then prescribe the medicine.

Homeopaths treat the patient s mental, emotional and physical make-up i.e. the constitution. This is known as  constitutional treatment . Constitutional treatment treats the disease and removes it from its roots. The Constitutional method is employed in the treatment of epilepsy in Homoeopathy. This method is gives amazing results in many cases.

Homeopathy has immense scope in the treatment of Epilepsy. In fresh cases, where the child is new to epileptic treatment, homoeopathy can relieve complaints by giving  constitutional treatment .

In other cases where the child is already taking treatment, homoeopathy can taper off the doses gradually and thus treat the patient effectively. Thus, in both the cases, homoeopathic treatment is beneficial in treating epilepsy.

In either of the cases, a constitutional medicine is given to treat epilepsy. Constitutional treatment relieves the patient from seizures, convulsions, etc. Thus the child can attend school daily and concentrate on his studies. In about 1/3 cases of epilepsy, a surgery known as  seizure surgery  is performed. Regular constitutional treatment is very useful in such cases.

Homeopathic medicines are completely side-effect free and are not habit-forming. They can be taken by children, adults and even by pregnant women. They must be taken only after consultation from a homoeopathic practitioner.

Epilepsy - Causes, Symptoms & Homeopathic Treatment Of It!

Asperger's syndrome has recently come under the umbrella of autism spectrum disorder. This syndrome usually affects the social skills of the patient, most heavily. The patient may seem normal and even intelligent at first glance. But on closer interaction, several social skill problems will come to the fore including an obsessive focus on certain topics and issues. Repetitive behaviour is also a part of this disease. Let us find out more about asperger's syndrome.

Symptoms: the symptoms usually begin to show up early on in one's childhood. The patient will not be able to make eye contact while speaking with others. Also, a perfectly normal person may seem inordinately shy and reserved during social interactions. This awkwardness may come to the fore in the form of looking for expression cues on other people's faces and even the body language. The patient may not be a very happy and lively soul, with hardly a smile to crack at the funniest of jokes. The lack of emotions or the emotionally numb state is also a major giveaway of the condition. Other symptoms may include a strong aversion towards change in food habits and routine.

Diagnosis: the diagnosis is usually done by mental health specialists like a developmental paediatrician, a psychiatrist, a psychologist or even a paediatric neurologist. These specialists can put the child through a variety of tests that will study the neurological health as well as the speech and emotional behaviour of the child.

Educating the parent: once the diagnosis has been done, the parents of the patient will have to appraised of the condition and its implications. The symptoms and treatment will have to be duly discussed even as the parents are put through training and therapy to learn techniques with which they can help the child in progressing along more normal lines. The therapy will also help the parents deal with the challenge of living with someone suffering from this condition.

Treatment: there are varied forms of treatment that aim at fixing the specific areas and symptoms that the patient is learning to live with. Social skills training, speech and language therapy, cbt or cognitive behavioural therapy and other forms of treatment can help the child overcome many symptoms that come from this condition.

In the course of the treatment, it is important for the child, parent and therapist concerned to realise that there is no single approach that can be applied to all patients suffering from asperger's syndrome. Individual care and therapy will be required for individual cases. At the same time, most of the skills will need to be repeated at home so that the child takes them more seriously.

What Is Asperger's Syndrome?

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