2.4 Neurological Problems
Uploaded by
turtlesrule1362.4 Neurological Problems
Uploaded by
turtlesrule1362.
4 Neurological Injuries
Headaches and Migraines
• A headache is pain felt in the head and/or
face.
– How can this happen if the brain does not feel
pain?
• Our nerves, muscles, and blood vessels along
the path of the heachache can be
responsible.
• Primary headaches - the headache itself is the
main medical problem.
– Secondary headaches caused by other health
issues.
Headaches and Migraines
• Different types:
– Migraines
• Includes other symptoms such as
light sensitivity, nausea, and/or light
headedness.
– Tension heachaches
• Most common type
– Cluster Headaches
• Occur over the course of weeks or
months.
• Easiest to think of sinus headaches
Phineas Gage
• Railroad worker that had a metal rod go through
his head
• Personality changed
• Frontal lobe damaged
Lobotomy
• Early psychosurgery
performed by Egas Moniz
involving damage to the
frontal lobe
• Formally used to treat mental
illness
• Stopped in the 1950s
Hemispherectonomy
• The removal of part or a whole hemisphere
of the brain.
• Extreme circumstances, such as when the
patients does not respond to medication.
Split Brain Surgery
• Officially called corpus
callosotomy
• Cutting corpus callosum
sometimes in the case of severe
seizures.
– Stops signals from being sent
across the brain.
• Approximately one in five
people are seizure-free after
surgery.
Alien Hand Syndrome
• Result of split brain surgery
where limbs move by
themselves
• No cure, treatments to reduce
symptoms
Malignant Tumor
• A tumor that invades tissue,
tends to spread, and may
cause death.
• If active= cancerous
• When it grows the disease can
break off the tumor and go to
other places in the body
Stroke
• An interruption of blood
supply to a part of the brain,
which causes damage
• Brain cells begin to die
• Functions of the brain are lost
if cells start to die
Strokes
• How much of heart disease and stroke is preventable?
– 80%
• Heart disease is the #1 killer of Americans & stroke is #5
• Ischemic stroke is more common in the US (over 80% of
strokes) and is caused when a blood vessel is blocked by a
clot, reducing blood flow to the brain.
– Are like clogged pipes
• Hemorrhagic stroke happens when a blood vessel bursts,
leaking blood into the brain.
– Are like burst pipes that break
FAST
• F - Face Dropping
• A - Arm Weakness/Numbness
• S - Speech Difficulty
• T - Time to Call 911
• When stroke happens, time is brain. Nearly 2 million
brain cells die every minute during stroke!
Dementia - Alzheimers
• Generally, we would talk about this with
cognitive disorders.
• Most common form of dementia
– More common in women.
• A progressive, neurodegenerative disease
that occurs when nerve cells in the brain die.
– Fiber tangles within nerve cells (neurofibrillary
tangles)
– Clusters of degenerating nerve endings (neuritic
plaques)
– Brain will physically shrink.
Dementia - Alzheimers
● There are still a lot to
learn about this
disorder:
○ Key takeaways are
to eat a balanced
diet and get the
recommended
amounts of sleep.
○ Stay mentally
active.
Epilepsy
• Your brain is fighting against you.
• Could be caused by abnormalities in brain
structure, genetics, our diet, or by our
immune system.
• Seizures defined by their onset, the person’s
level of awareness, and what movements
happen.
Parkinson’s Disorder
• Brain disorder that causes unintended or
uncontrollable movements.
• More likely to affect men.
• Occur when nerve cells in the basal ganglia,
an area of the brain that controls movement,
become impaired and/or die.
• Still unsure of cause, treatment, and cure.
ALS
• Progressive nervous system disease that
affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal
cord, causing loss of muscle control.
• Begins with muscle twitching and weakness in
a limb, or slurred speech.
• Fatal
Cerebral Aneurysm
• A ballooning arising from a weakened area
in the wall of a blood vessel in the brain.
• If the brain aneurysm expands and the blood
vessel wall becomes too thin, the aneurysm
will rupture and bleed into the space around
the brain.
– Believe it or not, our blood is toxic to the brain.
Locked-In Syndrome
• Rare neurological disorder in which there is
complete paralysis of all voluntary muscles
except for the ones that control the movements
of the eyes.
• Cognitive function is usually unaffected.
• Caused by damaged to the pons, a part of the brainstem
that contains nerve fibers that relay information to other
areas of the brain.
Plasticity
• The brain’s ability to change
and repair itself after injury