Everyone has to turn to a neurologist, even when there seems to be no evidence - not a single necessary certificate, even for a child, even for an adult, is complete without consultation and signature of this narrow specialist. A neurologist is responsible for diagnosing and treating diseases of the entire human nervous system - both central and peripheral. But this is a special sphere of the body's activity, it is responsible for all processes, controls and directs them. And cerebral symptoms serve as indicators of a serious problem that requires the work of a neurologist, as well as other specialists.
Getting the right diagnosis is key
When a patient observes such obvious signs of a problem as cerebral and meningeal symptoms, the most important thing for a doctor is to establish the cause of their appearance, linking it to a specific damage or injury to a certain area of the brain or its membrane. There are only four main reasons why cerebral symptoms occur in stroke, traumatic brain injury, toxic lesions, tumors, inflammatory and infectious diseases:
- violation of liquor dynamics -production, circulation and reabsorption of cerebral fluid - liquor;
- increased intracranial pressure;
- irritation of the membranes of the brain and blood vessels;
- increase in brain volume.
Each of the listed causes of cerebral symptoms does not occur by itself - there is an explanation for everything. And to find out why a violation occurred in order to prescribe an adequate treatment for the disease is the task of a neurologist.
What are the symptoms of brain damage
Many conditions are characterized by similar symptoms, and they may not always be associated with a malfunction of the nervous system. So, for example, nausea and vomiting can both be a violation of the digestive tract, and have a violation of brain activity. Cerebral neurological symptoms are distinguished by specialists as follows:
- headache;
- dizziness;
- impaired consciousness;
- convulsions;
- nausea, vomiting.
This division is global, each item is divided into several separate symptoms of different etiologies. The task of a specialist from the complex appearance of symptoms is to obtain an extremely clear picture of the problem. Many cerebral symptoms have already been studied quite well, they have certain signs by which it is possible to establish the area of disturbance. Such symptomatic complexes are called syndromes and have a specific name.
Neurology to help
For a neurologist,as with any other medical professional, the most important thing is to establish the cause of the problem. It is extremely difficult for a neurologist to do this. The observed symptoms and syndromes are only the consequences of a disorder, a disease. The most important thing is to identify the source. Cerebral symptoms of pathogenesis can be very different, because any disturbances in the activity of the brain lead to the appearance of visible problems. But to establish the specific point of their appearance, as well as what caused this point to appear, is the most basic thing. The diagnosis of neurological diseases is a matter of a thorough comprehensive examination. Cerebral symptoms can have very different causes, but the result of treatment depends only on the correct diagnosis, which tells about the cause of their occurrence.
Focal or general lesions
Depending on the location, as well as the area of brain damage in various disorders, cerebral and focal symptoms appear. They differ in quality. Focal symptoms appear when a certain part of the brain is affected, which is responsible for its own special function of life. Therefore focal symptoms may be:
- practical (focused actions and movements);
- flavored;
- motor;
- breathing;
- visual;
- olfactory;
- psychic;
- speech;
- auditory.
Due to the observation of the loss of any vital functions, for whichone or another part of the brain responds, we can talk about its injury. The complex manifestation of focal and cerebral symptoms is most often observed together, although it can also happen that a disease or injury manifests itself with only one type of symptoms.
Brain tumors
The fact that oncological diseases are becoming one of the most common, covering the world's population of all ages, says a lot. Cancer is getting younger, although diagnostic and therapeutic techniques are constantly being improved, which makes it possible to fight this terrible disease in some cases quite successfully. Brain tumors are not the most common type of cancer, but they are diagnosed belatedly when it is already very difficult or even impossible to help the patient. Cerebral symptoms in brain tumors are not any special, atypical, which makes it difficult to make a diagnosis.
When a brain tumor occurs, a long "silence" of the body is possible, and it is due to this that such diseases are diagnosed in the later stages. This is due to the fact that some zones, as experts say, are "mute". The tumor arose, grows, but they do not react in any way and do not inform their "owner" that something bad is happening.
Cerebral symptoms - headache, nausea - are associated with overwork, migraine, but not with a deadly disease. But when the general state of he alth is seriously deteriorating, and the search for a problem takesa lot of time and it is irretrievably gone, the person is sentenced to death.
Symptoms in oncology of the brain manifest both cerebral and focal. Clinicians argue that when a tumor occurs, it is impossible to say with absolute certainty which of them will be primary and which will be secondary. It all depends on the characteristics of the neoplasm, because some tumors grow slowly, causing at first cerebral disorders. And some are aggressive, hard on the focus of education, and only then, as a result of growth, causing cerebral symptoms. With the growth of the tumor, the manifestation of all types of symptoms and syndromes intensifies, depriving a person of the opportunity to perform certain functions. It is possible to make a diagnosis of the presence of a neoplasm only when conducting a comprehensive examination using clinical tests, instrumental and hardware research.
Tranio-cerebral injuries
Craniocerebral injuries are a common type of injury both with direct impact on the head - a blow or a fall - and indirect - with sudden braking of a car in which a passenger is wearing a seat belt, or when jumping from a height to legs or on the back, the so-called concussion. Cerebral symptoms in TBI determine primarily the degree of brain damage in trauma.
Concussion is characterized by moderate or mild cerebral symptoms and is determined by a short-term loss of consciousness (1-3 minutes), tachycardia, sleep disturbance, sweating,weakness, rapidly passing (no more than 72 hours) focal symptoms.
Bruising of the brain is determined in more pronounced cerebral and local symptoms: the victim loses consciousness for almost an hour, he has severe nausea and repeated vomiting, severe headaches. Also, when the brain is bruised, focal symptoms of those areas that have been bruised are clearly manifested.
Compression of the brain is determined by the presence of a hematoma, which is formed from the spongy substance of the damaged bones of the skull or due to bleeding of the meningeal artery. Cerebral symptoms with such an injury at first are not expressed clearly in order to diagnose them. And in general, initially, when the brain is squeezed by a hematoma, the so-called light gap or apparent improvement occurs, the patient does not even suspect that his life is in serious danger, he tries to lead his former way of life, but a sudden deterioration can lead, if not to death. then to disability. Therefore, in many cases, compression of the brain requires prompt surgical intervention, although in some cases, therapy is carried out conservatively.
Stroke
One of the most common and well-known forms of brain damage is a stroke. Symptoms of a cerebral disorder in a pre-stroke state are known to the absolute majority of the inhabitants: headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, deterioration in performance, sleep disturbance. But most of the time they don't have much.pay attention, considering them insignificant and not carrying danger. Stroke is also called by experts as a vascular catastrophe of the brain, which, although it has precursors, but, as always, happens suddenly. Cerebral symptoms in stroke are characteristic of either of two types of brain catastrophe:
- hemorrhagic stroke - develops as a result of a rupture of a blood vessel in the brain;
- ischemic stroke - as a violation of blood flow due to blockage of blood vessels - thrombosis and atcrosclerotic plaques.
Also, strokes are divided by severity:
- mild severity - symptomatic manifestations are mild and disappear within 3 weeks;
- moderate stroke is characterized by pronounced focal symptoms, while cerebral lesions may be absent altogether, the patient is conscious all the time;
- Severe stroke is characterized by the global development of cerebral disorders, depression of the patient's consciousness.
Cerebral symptoms of brain damage in stroke are typical for moderate and severe degrees of brain damage. This is a headache that can worsen over time, nausea and repeated vomiting, dizziness. Also, strokes of these degrees of severity are characterized by loss of consciousness, short-term or prolonged, drowsiness or, conversely, arousal, a feeling of heat, dry mouth, pain in the eyes, convulsions. Focal symptoms appear depending on the location of the injury and the capture of areas of the meningesdestruction.
Diagnosis of a stroke is carried out only in a medical specialized institution. If you have time to deliver the patient for examination and emergency care in the so-called therapeutic window period, which is from 3 to 6 hours from the onset of brain damage in stroke, then the consequences of the disease can be significantly reduced. It should be remembered that mortality due to strokes is second only to coronary heart disease among cardiovascular diseases.
Inflammatory diseases
Tick-borne encephalitis is talked about a lot and regularly with the onset of spring heat, warning of the terrible danger of tick bites - carriers of the disease. But encephalitis is a group of inflammatory diseases of the brain. They are divided into primary and secondary, because often it is not possible to identify the cause of the development of an inflammatory brain lesion. With the development of such a lesion of various etiologies, cerebral symptoms include:
- headaches;
- nausea;
- increased body temperature;
- sensitivity to light (photophobia);
- impaired consciousness;
- drowsy;
- epilepsy seizures.
If the disease becomes severe, then paresis and paralysis, stiff neck, coma, changes in blood and cerebrospinal fluid parameters may develop, indicating an inflammatory process. Diagnosis is helped by puncture of cerebrospinal fluid and magnetic resonance and computertomography. Cerebral symptoms in inflammatory diseases of the brain and clinical analyzes make it possible to clearly identify the cause and pathogen and prescribe drug therapy.
Toxic Lesions
The brain needs a constant supply of oxygen and useful substances that it receives from the blood. But in the same way, unnecessary substances enter the brain - toxins and poisons that somehow got into the blood. A toxic lesion of the brain develops. Experts identify two problems with this condition:
- toxic encephalopathy;
- encephalopolyneuropathy.
The body does not care how the toxins got into it, it reacts sharply to such an invasion. First of all, toxic poisoning affects brain cells. Especially dangerous is long-term exposure to toxic substances, when changes can become irreversible. Substances that have an adverse effect on the human brain are:
- alcohol;
- drugs of plant and synthetic origin;
- heavy metals;
- a certain group of medicines for long-term or uncontrolled use;
- poisons.
Cerebral symptoms of brain damage when exposed to toxic and poisonous substances will be as follows:
- headaches;
- nausea;
- dizziness;
- impaired consciousness.
With these types of brain damage, there will definitely bemanifest and focal disorders. Experts divide them into three groups:
- cerebellar-vestibular complex - the so-called feeling of intoxication;
- hypotolamic complex - due to dysfunction of the hypothalamus - the part of the brain that controls homeostasis and neuroendocrine activity of the whole organism;
- extrapyramidal complex - impaired motor activity of skeletal muscles.
Toxic lesions are diagnosed by the detection of a poisonous substance, as well as by hardware methods such as MRI.
Meningitis
Neurology singles out such a disease as meningitis as a separate item. Although it refers to inflammatory-viral lesions of the nervous system and brain, it has its own characteristics and consequences. So, with menigitis, whatever it may be, the meninges are affected, and not the brain itself, as well as the spinal cord. Experts distinguish two types of meningitis:
- leptomeningitis;
- pachymeningitis.
These terms refer to an inflammatory disease of the pia mater, arachnoid mater and dura mater, respectively. For each type of meningitis, it is characteristic that the disease manifests cerebral symptoms. Neurology distinguishes several ways of grading meningo-diseases, one of which is based on the identification of the causative agent of the disease - a pathogenic microorganism. Depending on what caused the disease, the clinical picture and cerebral symptoms of meningitis will appear.
- Meningococcal meningitischaracterized by suddenness, body temperature rises rapidly, headache and repeated vomiting appear as a result of increased intracranial pressure. For this type, certain postures are characteristic, which give the doctor the opportunity to immediately assume an adequate diagnosis - the head is thrown back to the back, the legs are brought to the stomach, which is drawn in, and the back is arched. These are the so-called meningeal signs of brain damage. With the course of the disease, disturbances of consciousness appear - delirium, confusion of thoughts, paralysis, coma may develop. There are paroxysmal convulsions, some of which can be fatal.
- Serous meningitis is caused by enteroviruses and the polio virus. This type of disease is characterized by the following cerebral symptoms: headaches and vomiting after a period of the prodormal course of the disease, fever, common signs of meningitis develop - neck muscle tension, arched back. This type of disease, according to the type of pathogen, includes tuberculous and viral meningitis.
- Protozoal meningitis is caused by intracellular parasites. This type of disease is characterized by the initial appearance of pain in the muscles and joints, a measles-type rash, and an increase in some lymph glands. Then there are cerebral symptoms such as headache and vomiting, and meningeal symptoms - stiff neck, bending of the legs.
Any form of meningitis is dangerous because the cause of the disease is quite difficult to identify in the initial stages of the disease. Making an adequate diagnosis requires certain medicalactivities - the collection of cerebrospinal fluid, the so-called lumbar puncture. It allows you to identify the pathogen and prescribe high-quality therapy. Also, meningitis is dangerous for its complications as a result of inadequate treatment started at the wrong time or improper therapy.
Diagnosing the problem
Some cerebral symptoms are perceived by the vast majority of ordinary people as something insignificant, passing quickly, associated with problems in life. These are headaches and nausea - with overwork, malnutrition, stress. And most ignore them, taking symptomatic medications and not thinking about finding the starting point of the problem. But over time, cerebral symptoms expand, focal signs of brain damage appear, the problem becomes relevant, but often the time for its adequate solution is lost. In the diagnosis of neurological problems, all possible methods that modern medicine possesses should be used - from various kinds of analyzes to hardware diagnostics such as MRI, CT. Only a correct diagnosis made in time will allow curing the disease without consequences for human he alth and life.
