What is Neurology?

Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is a neurological disorder that results in slowly progressive weakness and loss of feeling in the legs and arms. It is caused by the body’s immune system inappropriately reacting against and damaging myelin. Myelin surrounds the peripheral nerves and acts like an insulator so that the nerves can conduct impulses properly

Dementia

Dementia is the progressive decline in mental functioning due to damage or disease in the body beyond what might be expected from normal aging. Although dementia is far more common in the older adults, it may occur in any stage of adulthood

• see Dementia Care Australia
• also Alzheimer’s Australia

Dystonia

Dystonia is a neurological condition – one of the movement disorders – in which involuntary muscle contractions cause twisting or repetitive movements, or abnormal body postures. Any part of the body may be affected: in some cases, only a single muscle is involved, while in others, a group of muscles (e.g. in the arm or leg), or the entire body may be affected

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder in which brief, recurrent changes in the electrical activity of the brain lead to seizures or ‘fits’, lasting from a few seconds to several minutes

During an epileptic seizure, brain cells may fire at many times their normal rate. In a partial seizure, only a part of the brain is involved, while in a primary, generalised seizure, the entire brain is involved

Multiple sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating disease, which affects the central nervous system. The nerve fibres, which make up our central nervous system and transmit messages from our brain, throughout our body, are wrapped in a fatty sheath, made of a substance known as Myelin. In MS, the Myelin sheath is attacked causing inflammation or damage. Areas of scarring (Sclerosis) result and these scars can disrupt or even block signals within the brain and spinal cord. These scars may cause loss of nerve fibres as well as their ensheathing myelin

The disruption or blocking of nerve signals within the central nervous system causes a variety of symptoms, depending on which areas of the brain and spinal cord are affected

Symptoms may include:

• Sight impairments
• Memory lapses
• Vertigo
• Weakness
• Impaired sensation

Parkinson disease

Parkinson’s disease belongs to a group of conditions called movement disorders. It is characterized by muscle rigidity, tremor, a slowing of physical movement (bradykinesia) and loss of balance (postural instability).

Tourette syndrome

Tourette Syndrome is an inherited neurological disorder characterized by repeated involuntary movements and uncontrollable vocal sounds called tics

Stroke

A stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain functions due to a disturbance in the blood vessels supplying blood to the brain. This can be due to ischemia (lack of blood supply) caused by thrombosis or embolism or due to a hemorrhage. As a result, the affected area of the brain is unable to function, leading to inability to move one side of the face, one or more limbs on one side of the body, inability to understand or formulate speech or inability to see one side of the visual field

see National Stroke Foundation

Tremor

Tremor is an unintentional, somewhat rhythmic, muscle movement involving to-and-from movements (oscillations) of one or more parts of the body. It is the most common of all involuntary movements and can affect the hands, arms, head, face, vocal cords, trunk, and legs. Most tremors occur in the hands. In some people, tremor is a symptom of another neurological disorder