Neurodegenerative Diseases:
These are those types of diseases, which results in degeneration of neurons of the central and peripheral nervous system or degeneration of the myelin sheath(Demyelinating diseases). Neurodegeneration can be caused due to a lot of factors.
There a wide variety of symptoms according to specific.
Depending on age, This type of diseases can be differentiated upon 4 categories:
- Early-onset
- Juvenile-onset
- Late-onset
- Very late-onset
Some of the most common Neurodegenerative diseases are:
- Parkinson's disease- This disease is caused due to the degeneration of cells in the substantia niagra of the brain. This region plays an active role in releasing a chemical called Dopamine which helps the neuron to communicate with the movement producing part of the brain, Basal Ganglia. Neuronal death causes the blocking of this communication, leading to Bradykinesia, Tremors, stumbling gait, Muscular stiffness.
- Alzheimer's disease- This disease is caused due to progressive damage to brain cells. It is the most common cause of dementia. In the early stages, victims may forget recent events or conversations. As the disease progress, cognitive skills are highly affected, resulting in loss of words to express a thought and forgetting names and the relation between the family members.
- Multiple Sclerosis(MS)- A bit rarer than the above-mentioned diseases. This disease causes progressive damage of the myelin sheath of the brain and spinal cord disrupting communication between them causing ataxia, severe in-coordination, unsteady gait, tremors. Patients also suffer from Lhermitte sign, fatigue, dizziness and slurred speech. It is an autoimmune disorder. MS can people of any age but it usually affect people around 16-55 years of age.
Unheard and rarer Neurodegenerative diseases:
- Friedreich's ataxia(FA)- It is autosomal recessive ataxia resulting from a mutation in the Frataxin gene. It is juvenile-onset ataxia affecting age groups of 5-16 years. the first and most prominent sign is that most patients suddenly observe their back bulging out. Many patients need a walking aid in their teens or twenties. It causes impaired gait and speech problem which increases over time. 60% of patients suffer from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which is the resultant cause of deaths in these patients. Some of them don't even live up to their 30s.
- Cerebellar ataxia- This disease is mainly caused due to the degeneration of the cerebellum. The cerebellum controls all the involuntary movements of the body such as speaking, walking, writing, eye movements. It may occur as a symptom of many diseases. This can be genetic, acute or other sub-acute reasons. This can affect people of any age.
- Spinocerebellar ataxia- It is a group of hereditary diseases having the same symptoms as cerebellar ataxia. There are 1000 types of the disease each of it is considered a neurological condition on its own. They are often fatal.
Extremely rare Neurodegenerative diseases:
- Ataxia-telangiectasia- It is early-onset ataxia as it is generally caused in children below 8 years. It is an autosomal recessive disorder primarily characterized by cerebellar degeneration which can cause severe disability. Brain development stops around 10 to 12 years. It weakens the immune system. The ability to repair DNA is also impaired, hence the child becomes highly susceptible to cancer. The victims tend to have a high level of alpha protein on their blood. Telangiectasia, the main feature of this disease, referring to dilated blood vessels that can be seen through the skin.
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)- ALS is a progressive nervous system disorder, affecting neurons in the brain and spinal cord which controls muscles. The cause of the disease is yet unknown. It is also called Lou Gehrig's disease after the baseball player was diagnosed with it. ALS often starts with hands, feet or limbs and then spreads to the other body parts. The name of this disease may sound familiar to some due to the fact that our famous cosmologist Stephen Hawking's suffered from it.
- Huntington's disease (HT)- The only difference between HT and ALS is that HT is genetic while the later may or may not be inherited. HT can appear at any age. It generally causes a wide spectrum of symptoms affecting cognitive skills, like difficulty in organizing thoughts, focusing on tasks, lack of impulse control. Psychiatric disorders such as insomnia, fatigue, social withdrawal. It causes the same movement problems as in ALS.
- Gulliane-barre syndrome (GBS)- It is an auto-immune disorder which destroys the nerve cell. Weakness and tingling in the extremities can eventually spread causing paralysis of the whole body. The cause of GBS is yet unknown. But on the bright side, most people recover from GBS. People with GBS usually gets weakened within two to four weeks after their first symptoms appear. Difficulty with eye and facial movement can also occur.
- Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP)- CIDP is closely related to GBS. CIDP damages the PNS roots and involves nerve swelling and irritation. CIDP is a chronic form of GBS. There can be a thousand reasons why CIDP happens. The symptoms are as same as the above-mentioned diseases. Ataxia, slurred speech, fatigue and sensation changes.
The rest 80% falls under unnamed and unknown categories. Scientists and researchers don't know why or how these conditions arise. Having symptoms since 2015, I was diagnosed with Sporadic ataxia in 2017. That is how I came to know about this world(Now, the blog caption would make more sense). This groups of the unknown neurodegenerative disorder are also called sporadic or Idiopathic Ataxia. (It is called ataxia because most of the diseases resemble the symptom of ataxia).
Thank You, If you are still here...😊
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