Neurological Disorders

A neurological disorder is a health condition that involves the nervous system. The nervous system is responsible for relaying and communicating information about the internal and external environment of the body, allowing the body to react to a stimulus. There are many types of neurological disorders; most of these are chronic and often disabling. Causes of neurological disorders include physical injury to the brain, nerves or the spinal cord. Other causes include infections, diseases or heredity. However, there are also cases where the cause of the disorder is unknown and only the effects can be seen.

Effects

• A neurological disorder can disturb, alter or damage the body's networks of communication, causing it to malfunction or work improperly. In a number of cases, a neurological disorder causes paralysis of a particular part of the body or even the entire body itself.

Classification

• A neurological disorder can affect one or several of the parts of the nervous system. Disorders can be grouped according to the part they affect: the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord, cerebellum, brainstream), the peripheral nervous system (which includes the cranial nerves) and the autonomic nervous system (where some parts are located in both central and peripheral nervous system). Additionally, neurological disorders may also include the blood vessels and all affected tissues including muscles.

Possible Causes

• Neurological disorders can be caused by a wide range of different factors, including brain injury, spinal injury, diabetes, inherited genetic abnormalities, infections and problems in the immune system. Because neurological disorders affect the brain, many mental illnesses may actually be neurological disorders of the central nervous system. While these are often classified separately, many patients with neurological disorders may exhibit symptoms akin to mentally ill patients.

Major Conditions

• Neurological disorders can be quite diverse; they are often a challenge to treat. Some of the major neurological conditions include behavioral or cognitive syndromes, headache disorders, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, neurodegenerative disorders, ovascular disease, sleep disorders, infections of the brain, neoplasms, brain tumors, movement disorders, demyelinating diseases of the nervous system, spinal cord disorders, disorders of the muscle and neuromuscular junctions among others.

Common Types

• Some of the common types of neurological disorders include migraine, tension headache, cluster headache, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease, stroke, transient ischemic attack, cerebral palsy, encephalitis, meningitis, myelitis, hemiballismus, tic disorder, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, myelocele, meningomyelocele, tethered cord and myopathy.