Everyone needs to go to a neurologist even when there seems to be no indication - 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 the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the entire nervous system of a person - both central and peripheral. But this is a special sphere of the body’s life activity, it is responsible for all processes, controls and directs them. And cerebral symptoms serve as indicators of a serious problem requiring the work of a neurologist, as well as other specialists.
Making the right diagnosis is the main thing.
When observing such obvious signs of a problem as cerebral and meningeal symptoms in a patient , the most important thing for a doctor is to establish the cause of their appearance, associating it with specific damage or trauma to a certain part of the brain or its membrane. The main reasons for which there are cerebral symptoms in stroke, traumatic brain injury, toxic lesions, tumors, inflammatory and infectious diseases, there are only four:
- violation of cerebrospinal fluid dynamics - production, circulation and reverse absorption of cerebral fluid - cerebrospinal fluid;
- 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 on its own - there is an explanation for everything. And to find out why the violation occurred in order to prescribe treatment appropriate 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 impaired functioning of the nervous system. So, for example, nausea and vomiting can both be a disruption of the digestive tract, and may also impair brain activity. Specialists distinguish cerebral neurological symptoms in this way:
- headache;
- dizziness;
- impaired consciousness;
- cramps
- nausea, vomiting.
Such a division is global, each point is divided into several separate symptoms of different etiologies. The task of a specialist from the complex appearance of symptoms is to get an extremely clear picture of the problem. Many of the cerebral symptoms are already well studied, they have certain signs by which to determine the area of violation. Such symptomatic complexes are called syndromes and have a specific name.
Neurology to the rescue
For a neurologist, as well as for any other medical specialist, 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 just the consequences of a disorder, illness. The most important thing is to identify the source. The 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 a specific point of their appearance, as well as what made this point appear, is the most basic. The diagnosis of neurological diseases is a matter of a thorough comprehensive examination. About cerebral symptoms can have very different causes, but the result of treatment depends only on a correctly diagnosed diagnosis that tells about the cause of their occurrence.
Focal or general lesions
Depending on the location, as well as the area of the brain lesion in various disorders, cerebral and focal symptoms appear. They differ in quality. Focal symptoms are manifested in the defeat of a certain part of the brain that is responsible for its own special function of life. Therefore, focal symptoms may be:
- apractic (purposefulness of actions and movements);
- flavoring;
- motor;
- respiratory
- visual;
- olfactory;
- mental
- speech;
- auditory.
Due to the observation of the loss of any vital functions for which one or another part of the brain is responsible, we can talk about its injury. A complex manifestation of focal and cerebral symptoms is most often observed together, although it also happens that a disease or trauma is manifested by 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, is said a lot. The cancer is getting younger, although diagnostic and therapeutic methods are constantly being improved, which allows us 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 the patient is already very difficult or even impossible to help. Cerebral symptoms in brain tumors are not special, atypical, which determines the complexity of the diagnosis.
When a brain tumor occurs, a long “silence” of the body is possible, and it is precisely due to this that such diseases are diagnosed in the later stages. This is due to the fact that some areas, as experts say, are “mute”. The tumor has arisen, is growing, but they do not react 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 health seriously worsens, and the search for a problem takes a lot of time and it irrevocably leaves, the person is sentenced to death.
Symptoms in brain oncology are manifested both cerebral and focal. Clinicians say that when a tumor occurs, it is impossible to say exactly 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, initially causing cerebral disturbances. And some of them are aggressive, severely affecting the lesion, and only then, as a result of growth, cause cerebral symptoms. With the growth of the tumor, the manifestation of all types of symptoms and syndromes intensifies, depriving a person of the ability to perform certain functions. A diagnosis of the presence of a neoplasm is possible only when conducting a comprehensive examination using clinical tests, instrumental and hardware studies.
Head injuries
Traumatic brain injuries are a common type of injury both when directly impacting the head - a blow or falling, or indirectly - when the car in which the passenger is fastened with a seat belt is braked abruptly, or when jumping from a height to his legs or back, the so-called concussion. Cerebral symptoms in brain injury primarily determine the degree of brain damage due to trauma.
Concussion is characterized by moderately or weakly expressed cerebral symptoms and is determined by short-term loss of consciousness (1-3 minutes), tachycardia, sleep disturbance, sweating, weakness, and focal symptoms that pass quickly (in no more than 72 hours).
A brain bruise is defined 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, with a bruise of the brain, focal symptoms of those zones that suffered a bruise are clearly manifested.
The compression of the brain is determined by the presence of a hematoma formed from the spongy substance of the damaged bones of the skull or due to bleeding of the membranous artery. The cerebral symptoms of such an injury at first are not expressed clearly in order to diagnose them. And in general, when the brain is squeezed with a hematoma, the so-called luminous gap or apparent improvement comes, the patient does not suspect that his life is in serious danger, he tries to lead his previous lifestyle, but a sudden deterioration can lead, if not death , then to disability. Therefore, in many cases, compression of the brain requires prompt surgical intervention, although in some cases the therapy is conservative.
Stroke
One of the most common and well-known forms of brain damage is stroke. Symptoms of a cerebral disorder in a pre-stroke condition are known to the vast majority of residents: headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, impaired performance, sleep disturbance. But more often than not they pay little attention, considering it insignificant and not dangerous. Stroke is also called a vascular catastrophe in the brain, which, although it has precursors, but, as always, happens suddenly. The cerebral symptoms of a stroke are characteristic of any of two types of cerebral catastrophe:
- hemorrhagic stroke - develops as a result of rupture of a blood vessel of the brain;
- ischemic stroke - as a violation of blood flow due to blockage of blood vessels - thrombosis and atrosclerotic plaques.
Also, strokes are divided by severity:
- mild severity - symptomatic manifestations are slightly expressed 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;
- a severe degree of stroke is characterized by global development of cerebral disorders, depression of the patient’s consciousness.
Cerebral symptoms of brain damage in stroke are characteristic of moderate to severe degrees of brain damage. This is a headache that can intensify over time, nausea and repeated vomiting, dizziness. Also, instincts of these degrees of severity are characterized by loss of consciousness, short or long, drowsiness or, conversely, agitation, a feeling of heat, dry mouth, pain in the eyes, and convulsions. Focal symptoms appear depending on the location of the injury and the seizure of the brain region by destruction.
Diagnosis of a stroke is carried out only in a specialized medical institution. If you manage to deliver the patient for examination and emergency care during the so-called period of the therapeutic window, which is from 3 to 6 hours from the onset of the development of brain damage during a stroke, the consequences of the disease can be significantly reduced. It should be remembered that mortality due to strokes takes second place after coronary heart disease among cardiovascular diseases.
Inflammatory diseases
They talk a lot about tick-borne encephalitis regularly with the onset of spring heat, warning about 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 inflammatory brain damage. With the development of such a lesion of various etiologies, cerebral symptoms include:
- headache;
- nausea;
- increase in body temperature;
- sensitivity to light (photophobia);
- impaired consciousness;
- drowsiness;
- seizures of epilepsy.
If the disease becomes severe, then paresis and paralysis, stiff neck, coma, changes in blood counts and cerebrospinal fluid, indicating an inflammatory process, can develop. Spinal puncture and magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography help to make a diagnosis . Cerebral symptoms in inflammatory diseases of the brain and clinical tests can clearly identify the cause and pathogen and prescribe drug therapy.
Toxic lesions
The brain needs a constant supply of oxygen and the beneficial substances that it receives with blood. But in the same way, unnecessary substances - toxins and poisons that somehow enter the bloodstream - enter the brain. A toxic brain lesion develops. Specialists distinguish two problems of this state:
- toxic encephalopathy;
- encephalopolneuropathy.
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 the prolonged exposure to toxic substances when changes can become irreversible. Substances that have an adverse effect on the human brain are:
- alcohol;
- narcotic substances of plant and synthetic origin;
- heavy metals;
- a certain group of medicines with prolonged or uncontrolled intake;
- poisons.
The cerebral symptoms of brain damage when exposed to toxic and toxic substances will be as follows:
- headache;
- nausea;
- Dizziness
- impaired consciousness.
With these types of brain damage, focal disorders will necessarily appear. Specialists divide them into three groups:
- cerebellar-vestibular complex - the so-called feeling of intoxication;
- hypotolamic complex - due to impaired function 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 a disease such as meningitis. Although it refers to inflammatory viral lesions of the nervous system and brain, it has its own characteristics and consequences. So, with meningitis, no matter what it is, the brain membranes are affected, and not the brain itself, as well as the spinal cord. Specialists distinguish two types of meningitis:
- meningitis;
- pachymeningitis.
These terms refer to inflammatory disease of the soft and arachnoid membranes of the brain and dura mater, respectively. For each type of meningitis, it is characteristic that cerebral symptoms are manifested in the disease . Neurology identifies several ways of gradation of 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 with meningitis will appear .
- Meningococcal meningitis is characterized by suddenness, body temperature rises rapidly, headache and repeated vomiting appear as a result of increased intracranial pressure. This type is characterized by certain postures that give the doctor the opportunity to immediately assume an adequate diagnosis - the head is thrown back to the back, legs are brought to the stomach, which is pulled in, and the back is curved. 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 can develop. Paroxysmal convulsions appear, some of which can become fatal.
- Serous meningitis is caused by enteroviruses and polio virus. The following cerebral symptoms are typical for this type of disease: headaches and vomiting after a period of the pro-formal course of the disease, fever, general signs of meningitis develop - tension of the occipital muscles, curved back. To this type of disease, as a causative agent of the disease, include tuberculosis 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 rash of the measles type, and an increase in some lymph glands. Then, cerebral symptoms such as headache and vomiting, and meningeal symptoms - stiff neck, bent legs appear.
Any form of meningitis is dangerous in that the cause of the disease is difficult to identify at the initial stages of the disease. An adequate diagnosis requires certain medical measures - the collection of cerebrospinal fluid, the so-called lumbar puncture. It allows you to identify the pathogen and prescribe quality therapy. Meningitis is also dangerous due to its complications as a result of untimely initiation of adequate treatment or improper therapy.
Diagnose a problem
Some cerebral symptoms by the vast majority of ordinary inhabitants are perceived as something insignificant, fleeting, associated with problems in life. These are headaches and nausea - with overwork, malnutrition, stress. And most do not pay attention to 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 on time the correct diagnosis will cure the disease without consequences for human health and life.