It's no secret that even the slightest disturbance in blood circulation in the brain affects the work of the whole organism. That is why many people are interested in questions about why discirculatory encephalopathy occurs, what it is and what symptoms are accompanied. After all, malfunctions in the functioning of the nervous system can be extremely dangerous.
Discirculatory encephalopathy: what is it?
This form of the disease is accompanied by lesions of the nervous system that occur against the background of chronic circulatory failure. As you know, along with blood, nerve tissues receive oxygen and nutrients. Any violation of the blood supply leads to a violation of the nutrition of neurons, which, of course, affects not only the functioning of the nervous system, but also the condition of the whole organism. There is both acute and chronic dyscirculatory encephalopathy. And regardless of origin and severity, the disease needs appropriate treatment.
The main causes of discirculatory encephalopathy
In fact, the causes of circulatory disorders in the brain can be different. Most often, vascular insufficiency is caused by atherosclerosis, which is accompanied by a decrease in the lumen of the vessel. The most common causes include hypertension. But there are other, less common risk factors, under the influence of which the disease develops.
Dyscirculatory encephalopathy can be the result of any heart disease, accompanied by chronic circulatory failure. The causes also include abnormalities in the structure of blood vessels, vasculitis, some blood diseases, compression of arteries and veins, cerebral amyloidosis and diabetes mellitus.
Dyscirculatory encephalopathy and stages of its development
Most often, such a disease develops slowly, gradually. At the first stage, some obvious symptoms may be absent, patients only occasionally complain of headaches, fatigue and a decrease in concentration. The second stage is accompanied by deeper lesions in the nervous system, which, of course, affects the clinical picture, patients have memory problems, changes in character and behavior. The third degree of encephalopathy is the most severe and, if untreated, often results in paralysis and even death of a person.
The main symptoms of encephalopathy
As already mentioned, the clinical picture in this case depends on the degree of brain damage. In fact, there are many different symptoms that cause discirculatory encephalopathy. What is it and what are the characteristic signs worth paying attention to?
In the first stages of chronic encephalopathy, sleep disturbances, drowsiness, increased irritability and constant fatigue appear. In the future, there are problems with memory, changes in gait, tremor in the fingers. As the disease progresses, the patient gradually loses the ability to coherent thinking, has difficulty communicating, reading and remembering information.
Often, against the background of encephalopathy, neuroses appear. For example, some patients suffer from hypochondria. Along with this, a person’s self-confidence decreases. As the destruction of nerve tissue, the patient loses the ability to solve everyday tasks.
The third stage of the disease is the most dangerous, since the lesions cover important parts of the brain, coordination of movements is disturbed , which often ends with partial or complete paralysis.
How is encephalopathy treated?
Of course, in no case should you self-medicate, only a specialist knows why there was discirculatory encephalopathy, what it is, and what therapy will be really effective. The acute form of the disease requires immediate hospitalization, while the initial stages of chronic damage to the nervous system can be cured at home. It is extremely important to determine the causes of vascular insufficiency in the brain and eliminate them. The patient needs peace, so you should limit the number of physical and mental stress. For treatment, calcium channel blockers, vitamins, nicotinic acid preparations, nootropics, antihypoxants, in a word, drugs that stimulate blood flow to the brain are used. In some cases, treatment by a neuropsychiatrist is necessary.