Brain Disorders: Brief Info About Alzheimer's, Schizophrenia and Parkinson Disease

There are many types of brain disorders. Some are Schizophrenia, Parkinson Disease, Alzheimer's, and Autism.

Schizophrenia has been around since early 2000 B.C.. It is when someone's thoughts are held captive from a loss of reality. This disease causes the brain to deteriorate and has no cure. A lot of times someone with schizophrenia will have thoughts that have absolutely no reasoning. They will as well experience hallucinations. Thoughts and feelings often times have no connection with one another. Due to the difference between thought and feeling this disease has been given the alternative name of "split personality". This disease has no connection with the Multiple Personality Disorder, which sometimes people confuse it with. Multiple Personality Disorder is a disorder where someone has multiple personalities at one time, which fluctuate. Before this disease was researched fully it was known as "Dementia Praecox". There are five different stages of this disorder ranging in severity. The most intense type known as Disorganized (Hebephrenic) includes hallucinations, delusions, inappropriate laughing and crying, incomprehensible speech, and toddler behavior. Another type of this disorder known as Catatonic is characterized by hyperactive behavior. Paranoid Schizophrenia is where someone still has the capability to function on a normal level. However, there is still the chance of delusions and hallucinations. A lot of times people with this type will be very argumentative. Other symptoms are impaired memory, attention, social interaction, problem solving, and body function. Schizophrenia usually appears in the late teenage years, or the early onset of adult hood. It also is subjective to distant/abandoned individuals.

In addition Schizophrenia infects 1.5-2 million people just in the United States. While the cause of this disease is unknown there are several hypotheses. One is that it is genetic, another is that there is too much dopamine, or too many of its receptors as the result. People often times diagnosed with Schizophrenia also are diagnosed with depression, anxiety, social phobia, and decrease in life expectancy. The life expectancy to be exact is known to be ten to twelve years, which is a lot less then people without it. The life expectancy is due in part to additional health problems brought on by the disorder. As bad as this disease may sound, there are many medications and therapy available to help in obtaining a more happier/beneficial life.

Parkinson's is a disease of the central nervous system that usually appears at age 40. Similar symptoms of this disorder include head injury, carbon monoxide poisoning and syphilis. Parkinson's is the result of the decay of chemicals in the body that ease electrical transmission of the nerve cells. This disease is the first one that had been treated by drugs, which replace the lack of neurotransmitters. Symptoms include loss of facial expressions, inflexibility of the muscles, trembling of the lips and hands. With the progression, more symptoms arise such as tremors when the muscles are at rest, body movements become slow, as well as difficult, and walking becomes shuffling. As years go by paralysis may occur. Dementia and depression are likely with people that have this disorder. When drugs like Levodopa are taken by the mouth, many of Parkinson's symptoms are lessened. There are new drugs such as Pramipexole (Mirapex), and Roprinorole, which can put off the need for Levodopa. With the more advanced type of Parkinson's patients are given Apomorphine (Apokyn) to treat immobility, instead of drugs like the Levodopa which tends to help less effectively. Future treatment plans include early detection and slowed growth.

Pacemakers are available that are put deep in the brain to control involuntary movement. The pacemakers however have yet to prove highly beneficial after testing proved otherwise. Surgery is available to reduce the amount of tremors. Therapy is offered to improve mobility. Due to the fact that there are currently no blood test to be given to determine the presence, neurological examinations are administered. There is a tool that doctors use to determine the progression of Parkinson's known as the "Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale". 75% of Parkinson's disease cases however are unfortunately confirmed through autopsy reports. The fact that this disease can be justified as normal aging, doctor's look for swinging of the arms, shuffling of the feet to help with the diagnosis. Although brain scans and MRI's are used in determine the possibility of this disease, most of the time they come back normal.

Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disease, which is, characterized by a progression of irrational deterioration in connection with a decline in the participation in normal every day activities, as well as behavioral changes. It is known as the most common type of dementia. The most severe early symptom is amnesia, which is the loss of the short-term memory. As this disease progresses, the memory becomes more and more handicapped. The irrational deterioration extends to affect the language with aging of the disorder. The affect on language is known as aphasia. Skilled movement, recognition decision making and planning which all are tied with the front temporal lobes of the brain become disconnected from the brain, almost to leave the person affected into a zombie state. There are three stages of this disorder, which include mild, moderate, and severe. In the mild stage, also known as "Mild Cognitive Impairment", patients are likely to have a decrease in energy. Changes in behavior are often unnoticed to the person's family/friends. Although the cause of this disease is not yet known, genetics are thought to play a highly important role. With the moderate stage, people can still function independently, however they may need help when dealing with difficult activities. The severe stage strips away the ability of the person to do anything on his or her own, even simple things. They may lose the ability to walk and eat on their own without help. They may even forget to eat and starvation may result from this. Doctors when trying to diagnose this disease use a wide variety of examinations. These examinations primarily test for the ability to name objects, memory, abstract thinking as well as attention. First however doctors rule out the possibility of depression, or psychosis which of course is more treatable. I.Q. tests are also administered. Interviews with family, along with pet scans and spect scans when Alzheimer's is present are proven to be helpful. Things such as poor cardiovascular health, which include smoking, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, along with head injury and exposure to light in aluminum can put you more at risk of this development. To reduce your risk of this disease you can indulge in Mediterranean diets, which consist of fruits, and vegetables which are low in saturated fat and have B vitamins and omega 3 fatty acids. Lastly, in addition even regular exercise, playing board games, doing puzzles, drinking vegetable juice can even act as an aid.

Autism is a neurological disorder, which affects the normal processes of the brain. It is characterized by developments of unusual communication, reasoning and social skills. Between males and females, males are 4 times more dominant over this disease. Up to the age of 30 months children appears to be normal. However there have been cases of autism in children under the age of 1. Symptoms include the inability to communicate normally, along with the refusal of change in daily tasks. The traits of Autism include the lack of eye contact, mocking of words or phrases, unwilling tantrums, lack of ability to verbally express needs. The sensibility of pain also lacks. Another symptom is the fascination on lifeless objects. Two thirds of autistic children are mentally retarded, while others often have other disorders in conjunction. One third of those with this disorder under go seizures. Although the cause for Autism is still unknown the psychological aspect has officially been ruled out. Genetics from families with a history of autism play a key role in the development. Teaching children skills and behaviors in repetition while they are at a young age helps them with function as they get older. Although autism is though to be untreatable, therapy seems to be very positive in the fact that there is difficulty with the children understanding right from wrong and reinforcement of correct behavior can only prove to be dominant.

Resources:
Wikipedia