Age-related neurodegenerative disorders

1.What does the group of neurodegenerative diseases include?

The term “neurodegenerative diseases” covers the entire set of disorders caused by degenerative changes in the elements of the nervous system - the brain and conductive nerves. Any pathology of this type is characterized by a close connection between organic and functional disorders, and the nature of the latter is determined by the localization of the pathological process and the degree of tissue atrophy of certain parts of the brain.

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) lead to a gradual increase in mental and physical disability. Progressive pathology of the brain as a regulatory center leads to cognitive and motor disorders. At the same time, criticism remains in the initial stages, which entails difficult experiences for the patient from the awareness of his own inferiority. A complex of progressive disorders in NDD may include:

• behavioral disorders;
• movement disorders;
• loss of memory, thinking;
• loss of ability to perceive and comprehend;
• speech disorders;
• imbalance in the emotional-volitional sphere.

Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by progression, leading to personality degeneration, complete loss of ability to work and legal capacity. As a rule, the death of patients occurs after several (sometimes tens) years from additional diseases, which can partly be associated with increasing difficulties in caring for and serving such patients.

A must read! Help with treatment and hospitalization!

MODERN BRAIN DEGRADATION

……I couldn’t sleep last night….(on one of the cars the engine showed the “fist of friendship” and this mental pain did not allow me to sleep)…..

……. while scrolling through Facebook in order to distract myself and still fall asleep, I came across what seemed to me a huge text…..

…..So ……. we read, get to know ourselves, draw conclusions, become better...!

“Every day more and more people complain about problems with mental activity - about increasing absent-mindedness, this is the inability to concentrate one’s attention, to gather thoughts to solve some problems, about difficulties in remembering information, about the physical inability to read large texts without speaking already about books. Paradoxical as it may seem, this problem is typical not only and not so much for older people, whose brains are supposed to be weakened by age, but for people of middle age and younger than middle age. At the same time, many are not even interested in why this happens - they automatically attribute it to stress, fatigue, unhealthy environment, the same age, although all this is not even close to the reason. There are a lot of people who are far from 70, but they have no problems at all with either memory or brain activity. So what is the reason?

And the main reason is that, despite any arguments, no one categorically wants to give up the so-called constant, round-the-clock “connection to information.” In other words, the accelerated loss of your brain functions began on that very significant day when you decided to be constantly “in touch”, although it was not you who decided, and not immediately, but very gradually. And it makes no difference whether you were forced to do this by work necessity, languishing from idleness, or an elementary fear of not being “on the level” or fear of being branded a black sheep, an eccentric among your own kind.

Back in 2010, it was known that the average Internet user reads no more than 20% of the text on a page and avoids large paragraphs in every possible way! Moreover, special studies have shown that a person constantly connected to the network does not read text, but scans it like a robot - snatches scattered pieces of data from everywhere, constantly jumps from one place to another, and evaluates information exclusively from the position of “share”, or “ Is it possible to forward this “revelation” to someone?” But not with the purpose of discussing, but mainly with the purpose of evoking emotions in the form of an animated “burp”, accompanied by short remarks and exclamations in various SMS formats.

In the course of research, it turned out that pages on the Internet, as already mentioned, are not read, but are skimmed using a pattern reminiscent of the Latin letter F. The user first reads the first few lines of the text content of the page, sometimes even completely, from beginning to end, then jumps to the middle of the page, where he reads a few more lines, as a rule, only partially, without reading the line to the end, and then quickly goes down to the very bottom of the page - to see “how it ended”... And that’s all...

Even search engines in statistics about - zones where the reader’s attention lingers the longest, “yellow” - zones for quick viewing, “blue and gray” areas are not readable at all.

Therefore, the most effective way to present information to the average Internet user is to display information in the form of an inverted pyramid - according to the principle “the lower, the less”, with the obligatory highlighting of keywords so that the “consumers” of information understand what is important and what is not so important. revealing no more than one idea per paragraph. This is the only way to keep your attention on the page for as long as possible. If, as you move down the page, the density of information does not decrease or, even worse, increases, then only a few people stay on such pages.

SO HERE:

The Internet is the ultimate progressive and necessary tool only within the necessary framework, and that is a real drug. What is a drug? This is a completely useless thing, without which anyone can live perfectly well until they try. And when he tries, he becomes dependent for life—drug addiction cannot be cured.

People of all ranks and specialties complain about problems with the perception of information - from highly qualified university professors to service workers who maintain washing machines. Such complaints can be heard especially often in the academic environment, even from those who, by the nature of their work, are forced to communicate closely with people on a daily basis - teach, give lectures, take exams; they report that the already low level of reading and perception skills among those , with whom they have to work, falls lower and lower from year to year.

Most people have enormous difficulty reading large texts, let alone books. Even blog posts longer than three or four paragraphs already seem to most to be too difficult and tedious to understand, and therefore boring and not worthy of even basic understanding. There is hardly a person who has not heard the popular online saying “too many letters - can’t handle it,” which is usually written in response to a proposal to read something longer than a couple of dozen lines. It turns out to be a vicious circle - there is no point in writing a lot, since almost no one will read it, and reducing the volume of transmitted thoughts leads to even greater poverty of not only readers, but also writers. As a result, we have what we have—mass dullness.

Even people with (in the past) good reading skills say that after a whole day of surfing the Internet and maneuvering through dozens and hundreds of emails, they physically cannot begin even a very interesting book, because reading just the first page turns into real torture.

Reading simply “doesn’t work”, first of all, because:

• I can’t force myself to stop scanning the text, looking for keywords in it;
• The complex syntax characteristic of most classical, highly content or knowledge-intensive works, which is completely absent in the exchange of telegraphic “SMS burps,” is completely inaccessible.

As a result, one sentence has to be re-read several times! The most outspoken people say this directly: I am disgusted with myself, but I can’t help it.

But that's not all. Due to constant connection to the Internet, such human skills as the ability to return to once meaningful information, analyze what has been read, and connect the imagination sharply deteriorate. What’s even worse is that in 80% of cases, people go to the Internet for dubious entertainment, or get information from there that has not only zero, but negative cultural value, take it as their own, and even begin to broadcast it without processing.

At the same time, most people, especially young people, are so attached to their gadgets that if they threaten to be disconnected from the network for at least one day, they experience not only mental depression bordering on panic, but also real physical withdrawal, reminiscent of a drug addiction. Don't believe me? Come on, turn off your soap dish COMPLETELY and try to live without it for at least 2-3 days.

There is an opinion that the ability to effectively perceive complex texts and read complex literature will soon become an elite privilege, available only to a special caste of people.

So, no pills, no supplements, no diets, no shrinks, etc. unable to stop brain degradation. There is only one thing that can stop it - stopping the flow of all kinds of information garbage into the processing system and daily loading the brain with so-called “useful information.” This process is extremely difficult, and for many people it is completely impossible. For many, the train, as they say, has already left.

SUMMARY:

Gadgets that ensure your constant connection to information/Internet - smartphones, iPads and others, without which you now cannot even go to the toilet, make you practically a moron with a sluggish, apathetic, barely thinking brain that is not able to think and analyze. But, like any drug addict, you, of course, are convinced of the opposite - that these soap boxes make your life incredibly bright, rich, comfortable, and you personally - a “highly advanced person” who is always aware of everything.

....reminded of some ubiquitous portals.....))))))))

Thanks to these devices, your brain receives a continuous stream of all kinds of garbage around the clock, which pollutes your “on-board computer” so much that you are only suitable for performing the most primitive, low-skilled work. You are unable to speak, write, or read coherently—your speech is tongue-tied and filled with filler words. When telling someone about something, you have difficulty finding the right words, and when listening to someone, you quickly lose the thread of the conversation and begin to get bored and yawn. You can’t write because you start making mistakes in almost every word, and you don’t even know approximately how to use punctuation marks. But you are great at taking a selfie and knocking on someone on Viber or WhatsApp or a social network with short phrases “Hello, Ok, smack, how are you”... and answering is already problematic...

Here's the bad news: mobile communications should only be used in EMERGENCIES. For example, you arrived in an unfamiliar city and cannot find a greeter - you really need to call. Or you are late for an important meeting - it is really necessary to call, i.e. you need to configure your gadget only to receive or transmit the professional and business information you need. And the rest of the time your gadget should be TURNED OFF. However, you can imagine how uncomfortable you feel just thinking about it.

You need to be prepared for the fact that everyone around you, to put it mildly, will not understand you - they will tell you that you are hello, completely cuckoo, that you have gone crazy. Don't give a damn and rub it - remember, you are an object for an information attack and you need to defend yourself. As CBS News President Richard Salant said, “Our job is to sell people not what they want, but what we need.”

And finally, you need to relearn how to read books. Real paper books—get it? Don’t stare at your soap dish with a screen for hours with blind eyes, but read books. It will be hard, but you try. There is no need to force yourself - on the first day, read half a page, on the next - a whole page, on the third day - two pages. take your time and then reflect on what you read. Keep in mind that the body will resist this in every possible way - it will feel nauseous, break down, and be tempted to do anything so as to not strain the brain, but these are real withdrawal symptoms of a drug addict that you just need to endure...”

Source: https://www.ranibu.ru/sovremennaya-degradatsiya-mozga.html

2.Causes of neurodegenerative diseases and risk factors

The exact cause that provokes the onset of pathology has not been identified for any neurodegenerative disease. There are some characteristic background conditions inherent in one or another combination in patients with NDD. The most frequently identified trends are:

• disruptions in the metabolism and synthesis of certain proteins that make up the myelin sheath of neurons (their lack or excessive accumulation);
• disturbances in the activity of receptors of brain structures associated with neurotransmitter regulation;
• genetic predisposition, presence of relatives with neurodegenerative diseases;
• intoxication and death of neurons against the background of concomitant pathological processes or under the influence of constantly acting negative factors (free radicals, herbicides, pesticides, alcohol and drugs).

In addition, many pathologies affecting metabolic processes are recognized as indirect risk factors:

• infections;
• obesity;
• head injuries;
• diseases of the cardiovascular system;
• chronic endocrine disorders;
• renal and liver failure as a mechanism for removing toxins;
• all bad habits;
• low physical and intellectual activity.

Visit our Neurology page

3.Diagnostics and clinical picture of neurodegenerative diseases

At the initial stages, different NDDs may have a similar clinical picture. Diagnosis should be based not only on the collection of anamnestic data and dynamic observation, but also include genetic aspects. Special tests help differentiate a specific diagnosis. To exclude tumor, traumatic, vascular origin of the onset of disorders, instrumental diagnostic methods are used.

The following examination methods for suspected NDD are most indicative:

• MRI, CT scan of the brain;
• PAT;
• single-photon CT;
• study of the level of neurotransmitters;
• angiography;
• Doppler ultrasound of the vessels of the brain and cervical spine;
• EEG.

Clinical manifestations of neurodegenerative diseases depend on the stage and specific type of pathology. Most often, the symptom complex includes motor disorders (changes in gait, tremor, akinesia and rigidity). Postural instability often develops as the disease progresses. Hyperkinesis, spontaneous or violent movements are possible.

In the level of intelligence, there is dementia, weakening of memory, mental activity, and contacts with others are disrupted. As a result, the sick person gradually isolates himself. For making a diagnosis, the fact of primary impairment of motor activity or intelligence is often indicative. Muscle activity remains intact in the initial stages of Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, and Pick's disease. While Parkinson's disease and Huntington's chorea initially manifest themselves as changes in gait, tremor, and hyperkinesis.

About our clinic Chistye Prudy metro station Medintercom page!

Causes

Scientists have not yet established the exact cause of the development of senile dementia. The brain processes that cause dementia are not the result of natural aging. Neurologists identify the following causes of senile dementia:

• Compounded heredity - the disease more often develops in people whose relatives suffered from dementia in old age;
• Autoimmune reactions - age-related changes in the body activate autoimmune processes in the human body, which negatively affect nerve cells and destroy the structure of neurons in the brain;
• Concomitant somatic pathology - senile dementia develops more quickly against the background of cerebral atherosclerosis, acute cerebrovascular accident or frequent transient ischemic attacks, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension;
• Oncological pathology - space-occupying formations compress the structures of the brain, causing the development of symptoms of dementia:
• Intoxication – smoking and alcohol abuse;
• Suffered traumatic brain injuries;
• Chronic stress.

Diseases that can cause dementia include Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (dystrophic disease of the basal ganglia and cerebral cortex, spinal cord), Gaye-Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (damage to the hypothalamus and midbrain due to vitamin B1 deficiency). Dementia develops in patients suffering from Pick's disease (a disease of the central nervous system, which is characterized by destruction and atrophy of the cerebral cortex), neurosyphilis, and multiple sclerosis.

Dementia of the brain is a consequence of the disease. Timely examination and treatment of pathology in some cases helps prevent the development of dementia. At the Yusupov Hospital, patients receive a full range of services, including prevention, diagnostics, outpatient care, inpatient treatment and subsequent rehabilitation.

Expert opinion

Author: Polina Yuryevna Vakhromeeva

Neurologist

Dementia is often called “senile dementia,” but this is not always true. Although in the case of senile dementia, the main factor is age. The disease develops very slowly, so in the first stages only the patient himself can notice the changes. It is worth paying attention to such disorders as memory loss, tremors, changes in gait, muscle atrophy, and changes in character.

The average age of life is increasing, and, accordingly, more and more people are suffering from dementia of various types. Almost 50 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with the disease. According to WHO, in 40 years the number of people with dementia will triple!

Dementia is a multi-etiological disease. The most common cause is Alzheimer's disease. Less than 1% of cases of Alzheimer's disease are officially registered, and only 5% of them receive treatment, and this treatment is not at the expense of the state (only 10-15% of expenses are financed).

In our country, the system of care for such patients is just beginning to develop. Currently, there are many drugs that can significantly improve the condition of patients and their quality of life. It is important to remember: the sooner you contact specialists, the higher the likelihood of slowing down the course of the disease.

4. Course of the disease and care for patients with NDD

The steady progression of diseases associated with neurodegeneration leads such patients to disability. They are susceptible not only to disorders of intelligence, memory and thinking, but are also defenseless against increasing motor disorders. Loss of healthy motor coordination often leads to injury. The autonomic nervous system, under the “guidance” of the diseased brain, begins to malfunction, leading to digestive disorders, dry skin, constipation, and urination problems.

The capacity of patients with neurodegenerative diseases is also always a controversial issue. Many of them are capable of antisocial behavior and pose a threat to themselves and others.

Treatment of NDD is always nonspecific and is aimed at providing symptomatic care, providing proper care for the patient, and preserving for as long as possible the patient’s ability to interact with those who take him under their care. At more severe stages, the main tasks are feeding, hygiene, prevention of infections and injuries, as well as bedsores and other complications.