Brain and nerve disorders, from stroke to dementia

How the brain and nerves develop and work, and the injuries, infections, pain, seizures, cancers and degenerative diseases that affect them.

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Brain Basics

The brain is the most complex part of the human body. This three-pound organ is the seat of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, initiator of body movement, and controller of behavior. Learn the basics of the human brain to better understand how the healthy brain works, how to keep it healthy, and what happens when the brain is diseased or dysfunctional.

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Healthy Brain Aging

The brain is the most complex part of the human body. As people age, the brain naturally changes, affecting memory, learning, and other cognitive functions. Learn how your brain changes as you get older, how to recognize warning signs of decline, and what you can do to keep your brain healthy as you age.

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Brain and nerve anatomy

The brain is the most complex part of the human body. This three-pound organ is the seat of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, initiator of body movement, and controller of behavior. Learn the basics of the human brain to better understand how the healthy brain works.

Brain and nerve development

The brain and nerves begin to form in the first weeks of pregnancy and keep developing through childhood. Problems along the way include neural tube defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly, Chiari malformation, craniosynostosis, cerebral palsy, and intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Disorders of the senses

The senses of taste, smell, sight and balance depend on nerves that carry signals to the brain. Their disorders include loss of taste (ageusia) and smell (anosmia), tongue disorders, motion sickness and balance problems, as well as Kallmann syndrome, which affects smell from birth.

Brain and nerve pain

Pain from the brain and nerves can be sudden and sharp or last for months. It includes migraine, tension and cluster headaches, trigeminal neuralgia, sciatica, carpal tunnel syndrome and chronic back and neck pain, along with ways to manage pain.

Brain and nerve injuries

Brain and nerve injuries range from a mild concussion to a severe traumatic brain injury, in adults and children. They include head injuries, damage from repeated blows to the head (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), brain injury from a lack of oxygen and shaken baby syndrome, with the warning signs that need medical care and ways to prevent them.

Neurologic diseases and disorders

Neurologic diseases affect the brain, spinal cord and nerves, and how they control the body. They range from narcolepsy and vertigo to coma, Chiari malformation, Wilson disease and functional neurologic disorder, along with the tests used to diagnose them.

Neurodegenerative diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases slowly damage and destroy nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, affecting memory, movement or both. They include Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, Parkinson's disease, ALS and multiple sclerosis, along with prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Stroke and vascular injuries

A stroke happens when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked or a blood vessel there bleeds. Types include ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke and transient ischemic attack, and other blood vessel problems of the brain include cerebral aneurysms, carotid artery disease and Moyamoya disease.

Neuropathy

Neuropathy is damage to the nerves, which can cause numbness, tingling, pain or weakness. Diabetes is a common cause, and forms include peripheral, autonomic and focal diabetic neuropathy, auditory neuropathy and inherited types such as Leber hereditary optic neuropathy.

Dementia and memory

Did you forget where you put your keys? It's normal to forget things, but it can also be a sign of memory problems. Read more on memory, memory loss, and memory-enhancing strategies.

Brain and nerve infections and inflammation

Infections and inflammation can reach the brain, spinal cord and nerves through viruses, bacteria and even amoebas. They include meningitis, encephalitis, West Nile virus, shingles and Ramsay Hunt syndrome, and the effects of COVID-19 on the nervous system.

Brain and nerve movement disorders

Brain and nerve disorders that affect movement can make it slow, shaky, stiff or uncoordinated. They include Parkinson's disease, ataxia, dystonia, essential tremor, cerebral palsy and restless legs syndrome, and some are treated with deep brain stimulation.

Seizures

Seizures are caused by sudden, abnormal electrical activity in the brain, and can be mild or severe. Epilepsy, when seizures keep returning, takes many forms, from rolandic and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy to Dravet syndrome, and some are inherited. Vagus nerve and deep brain stimulation are among its treatments.

Genetic and congenital brain and nerve disorders

Some brain and nerve disorders are inherited or present at birth, caused by changes in genes or by how the brain forms before birth. They include Huntington's disease, Tay-Sachs disease, leukodystrophies such as Krabbe disease, neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis complex and hydrocephalus.

Brain and nerve cancers

Brain and spinal cord tumors start in the brain, spinal cord or nearby nerves, and they affect both adults and children. They include glioblastoma and other gliomas, medulloblastoma, ependymoma, craniopharyngioma and acoustic neuroma, as well as primary central nervous system lymphoma.

Paralysis

Paralysis is the loss of muscle function in part of your body. There may be severe or complete loss of muscle strength due to motor system disease from the level of the cerebral cortex to the muscle fiber.

Mental health and addiction

Mental health conditions and addiction change how the brain works and how people think, feel and act. They include depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADHD and PTSD, as well as alcohol and opioid use disorders and the science of addiction.

Brain and nerve disorders in specific populations

Some brain and nerve disorders affect children, women or African Americans in particular. They range from childhood brain tumors, concussion and ADHD in children to stroke in pregnancy, migraine in women and stroke in African Americans, and some, like kernicterus, appear only in newborns.

Psychotherapeutics

Psychotherapeutics refers to the broad field of psychological treatments designed to help individuals manage and overcome mental health conditions, emotional challenges, and behavioral problems.

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