When we talk about the nervous system we usually think of the brain and in fact it is one of the most important elements that constitute it.
However, the brain alone would be incapable of interacting and controlling the different organs and allowing us to move and perform behaviors that facilitate our adaptation, or even survival, if there were not an entire system dedicated to it. We are talking about the entire nervous system.
Its correct functioning is vital for human beings. However, there are different disorders and diseases that can jeopardize its proper functioning and greatly limit our capabilities, and even cause death. Therefore, in this article we are going to talk about different types of diseases of the nervous system.
There are a large number of disorders and diseases that affect the nervous system.
Although those diseases that affect the brain and cerebellum can also be considered as such, in this article we are going to try to focus on those that cause an effect on the nervous system as a whole. both at the central and peripheral nervous system level.
1. Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a disorder caused by a hyperactivation of certain neuronal groups which for some reason are hypersensitized and in the event of minimal activation they react abnormally, producing various symptoms such as typical seizures (although these only occur in the case of grand mal crises), loss of consciousness, lack of coordination and lack of control of the muscles and viscera, slowness and weakness.
There are a large number of tumors that can affect the nervous system, whether they originate in it or if it is affected by the metastasis of a cancer in another part of the body. Within these tumors we can find astrocytomas, glioblastomas, gliomas, meningiomas or medulloblastomas, among others.
The damage is caused both by cell proliferation and by the breakdown of synaptic connections or the compression of neurons against other structures.
3. Locked-in syndrome
This strange syndrome has its origin in injuries to the brain stem or nerve connections. The subject is conscious but cannot communicate or move due to the lack of nervous connection between the brain and other parts of the body.
4. Multiple sclerosis
Demylinating disorders are a group of disorders in which the axons of neurons progressively lose the substance called myelin, which is of great importance when it comes to transfer bioelectric impulses through the nervous system.
This causes the body to gradually lose the ability to send messages efficiently to the body, producing symptoms such as muscle tension, weakness, pain and perceptual alterations.
5. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
In this disease, there is a progressive deterioration of the motor cells of the nervous system, causing them to die little by little. Thus, over time the muscles stop receiving nerve impulses and end up atrophying. This prevents voluntary movement.
Likewise, as the disorder progresses, it can eventually affect the cardiac and respiratory muscles and cause death.
6. Diabetic neuropathies and other metabolic disorders
The presence of metabolic disorders such as diabetes mellitus can cause serious damage to the nerves and neurons throughout the body. The nerve fibers are damaged, in addition to the fact that the blood vessels cannot correctly direct the flow due to the incorrect metabolization of glucose.
In the case of diabetes, these problems are especially visible in the extremities, especially the lower ones. It can also affect organs such as the eyes or even the heart.
7. Infections
Infectious diseases can greatly affect the set of neurons and structures that make up the nervous system. HIV and untreated syphilis can alter and damage neurons. Also the herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus and rabies. Encephalitis, meningitis, immunodeficiency that facilitates the action of other viruses, and neuronal necrosis and death frequently occur.
8. Dementia
These types of diseases of the nervous system, especially located in the brain, are characterized by a progressive degradation and loss of neurons and their normal functioning that causes the loss of different cognitive and motor skills.
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or Huntington’s chorea They are diseases that lead or may lead (not all people with Parkinson’s develop dementia as such, for example) the progressive deterioration of nerve fibers.
9. Mononeuropathies
Peripheral nerve injury by various mechanisms, such as continued compression, the presence of infections or hemorrhages or sectioning.
10. Polyneuropathies
Inflammatory process of various nerves or nervous tracts that generate a variety of symptoms such as tingling or loss of control and sensitivity, muscle atrophy, weakness, diarrhea, erection disorder or cardiorespiratory disorders, among others.
11. Trauma and sectioning
Although these are not diseases per se, the presence of blows and injuries It can cause the nerves and neurons present in different parts of the body to be damaged and unable to perform their functions normally.
Perception or control of muscle groups may be lost or even relevant bodies. Depending on the type of injury it can even cause cardiac arrest and death.
12. Guillain-Barré syndrome and other autoimmune diseases
Some autoimmune diseases, such as Guillain-Barré syndrome, can cause that our immune system attacks to the nerves of the nervous system, which damages them and makes the transmission of nervous signals difficult or impossible.
13. Autonomic dysreflexia
Disease caused by spinal cord injury and hyperactivation of the autonomic nervous system, in addition to a spectacular and dangerous increased blood pressure due to the difficulty of regulating blood pressure in non-innervated areas, below the spinal cord injury.
14. Monoplegia, hemiplegia and tetraplegia
The sectioning or damage of the nerve fibers of the nervous system can cause paralysis of specific body parts. This paralysis can occur in a specific point of the body (monoplegia), on one side of the body (hemiplegia) or even in all of the limbs (tetraplegia), making movement and even tactile perception of these areas impossible.
15. Neuralgias
Neuralgias are a group of diseases and disorders of the nervous system that They are characterized by the presence of pain derived from poor functioning pinching or alteration of the nerve pathways linked to pain perception.
