Neurological Disorders

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurological disease. The cause is not known, and there is currently no cure. The nerve cells become damaged in people with ALS. According to...

According to Kenneth H. Walker, Professor of Medicine and Associate Professor of Neurology at Emory University, a stretch reflex is the "contraction of a muscle in response to stretching of muscle...

Parkinson's disease affects the nerve cells in the brain that control muscle movement. Trembling, slowness, stiffness and loss of balance or coordination are symptoms of Parkinson's. Although...

Feeding an elderly person who has Parkinson's disease can be a challenging task. The disease causes slowness of movement, so a caregiver must allow more time for the patient to eat and also must...

Rabies is a deadly viral infection that causes fatal brain swelling. Carried in the saliva of infected dogs, bats, raccoons and other warm-blooded animals, the rabies virus can spread to humans...

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system affecting the way one moves. The problem develops due to damage of certain nerve cells in the brain and disorder...

ALS is short for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS is a neurological disease. According to the AAC Institute, ALS typically has five stages. However, a person...

Cerebral Palsy is a devastating neurological disorder usually diagnosed during infancy or early childhood. Cerebral palsy affects muscles and nerves, and therefore movement. Symptoms are poor...

Parkinson's disease is caused by a lack of a chemical in the brain called dopamine. The lack of the chemical causes tremors, slowed motions, rigid muscles, speech difficulties and loss of balance....

Your inner ear contains tiny calcium particles. When distributed evenly, they keep the inner ear in balance. The particles act as nerve sensors that send your brain a signal -- when you move...

Convulsions or seizures can be frightening to experience and see. Some convulsions happen because of general illness, not because of abnormal electrical activity in the brain while others are a...

Dysphasia occurs when something, usually a lesion or injury to the brain, disrupts the connection between human thought and human language production. This is not the same as a sensory impairment...

For the millions of Americans who suffer from seizure disorders, anticonvulsant medications are the most common form of treatment used to control the number of seizures a patient has....

A seizure occurs when your brain suddenly produces abnormal, electrical activity. Some seizures produce mild symptoms while others can cause violent shaking called convulsions. Seizures have...

Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder that inhibits the brain's ability to communicate with the rest of the body. The brain sends messages to the muscles and limbs, but the "directions"...

Spinal cord injuries cannot be reversed. However, with the medical advances made in recent years, there are treatments available to improve the recovery and quality of life for those dealing with...

Claustrophobia is characterized as a serious, incapacitating fear of confined spaces, a fear of physical entrapment. Many people describe it as a sense of suffocation. Many times claustrophobia is...

Peripheral neuropathy is a condition that affects the nerves. It impacts the way the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) connects and communicates with the muscles, skin and internal...

An involuntary movement disorder, Parkinson's affects almost a million people in the United States. A portion of the brain that controls physical movement experiences cell malfunction, reducing...

Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that is commonly called manic depression. Those with the disorder experience episodes of mania and depression, with depression occurring more frequently....

Symptoms of a tonic-clonic seizure involve the whole body, and are characterized by uncontrolled muscle jerking and unconsciousness. This kind of seizure is commonly referred to as grand mal, and...

Pick's Disease is a neurological disease in which the brain cells slowly shrink due to excess protein buildup. It is sometimes misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's or other dementia-related diseases. Like...

Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) is a rare condition in which people who have no underlying mental defects experience dramatic and detailed visual hallucinations. The afflicted individual is aware...

Parkinson's disease is a painful, degenerative neurological disorder that occurs mainly in the elderly. Although some cases involve younger people, research still continues on this disease, about...

Parkinson's Disease is a neurological disorder that occurs when the cells in the brain that produce dopamine are rendered nonfunctional. Dopamine allows for coordinated gross and fine motor...

Parkinsonism is a condition caused by illnesses, medications or nervous system disorders that are not related to Parkinson's disease. Some of the secondary conditions that may cause this are...

Ataxia refers to the loss of sufficient capacity to harmonize muscle movement when doing voluntary activities. The existing problem in muscular coordination is due to the damage in the cerebellum...

Ataxia, which translates as "lack of order", is a symptom rather than a disease itself that can be related to numerous neurological disorders. Most people who present with ataxia are older and may...

Transient global amnesia is a sudden, temporary loss of memory of recently occurring events. Immediate and remote recall is preserved, but the patient's ability to retain new information is...

To test a patient's nervous system, it's helpful to assess cranial nerve function. There are 12 cranial nerves and each is responsible for muscle movement, sensory processing or organ or gland...

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is an incurable neurological disorder. It causes a build-up and malformation of prions (a type of protein) on the brain cells ultimately leading to brain damage and...

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a rare but fatal neurological disease that rapidly kills the nerve cells in the brain. This brain damage may be a result of a build-up of proteins called prions. A...

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, affects about 30,000 Americans, with 15 new cases being diagnosed every day. If you know someone who has been diagnosed...

Music therapy is a growing form of treatment for children, adults and the elderly who have neurological disorders. Once you decide that you, your child or someone you know might benefit from music...