NEURO Inflammatory, Immunologic Flashcards
Acute Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (AIDP)
AKA Guillain-Barré Syndrome, an autoimmune process characterized by progressive areflexic weakness and mild sensory changes. Sensory symptoms often precede motor weakness. About 20% of patients end up with respiratory failure. Can occur anytime in life and in anybody - male, female, young, or old. This rare syndrome can be found in 1 out of every 100,000 people.
SYMPTOMS:
Initial symptoms include numbness, paresthesias, weakness, and pain and may be preceded by vague back or neck pain. There is often lack of fever at onset.
CAUSE:
Unknown, an autoimmune disease, 50% of cases are preceded by a viral or bacterial infection.
Bell’s Palsy
A condition that causes sudden weakness in the muscles on one side of the face. In most cases, the weakness is temporary and significantly improves over weeks. The weakness makes half of the face appear to droop. Smiles are one-sided, and the eye on the affected side resists closing.
SYMPTOMS:
Rapid onset of mild weakness to total paralysis on one side of your face — occurring within hours to days.
Facial droop and difficulty making facial expressions, such as closing your eye or smiling.
Drooling.
Pain around the jaw or in or behind your ear on the affected side.
Symptoms usually start to improve within a few weeks, with complete recovery in about six months. A small number of people continue to have some Bell’s palsy symptoms for life. Rarely, Bell’s palsy occurs more than once.
CAUSE:
Experts think it’s caused by swelling and inflammation of the cranial nerves (which “are responsible for a lot of the functions that go on in our head, mouth, throat and face”) are damaged on one side of the body. It could be caused by a reaction that occurs after a viral infection. There is some evidence that the virus is often herpes simplex virus (HSV), the same virus that causes cold sores and genital herpes. It is associated with other conditions such as diabetes.
Encephalopathy
- hepatic, renal
A term for any diffuse disease of the brain that alters brain function or structure.
Hepatic encephalopathy is a nervous system disorder brought on by severe liver disease. When the liver doesn’t work properly, toxins build up in the blood. These toxins can travel to the brain and affect brain function. People with hepatic encephalopathy may seem confused. There are three types (A,B, & C)
SYMPTOMS:
Anxiety or irritability.
Cognitive impairment (confused thinking or judgment).
Coordination or balance problems.
Difficulty concentrating or short attention span.
Flapping hand motion (asterixis).
Mood or personality changes.
Muscle twitches (myoclonus).
Reduced alertness.
Sleep problems.
Slurred speech,
CAUSE:
Alcohol use.
Certain drugs that affect the nervous system, such as sleeping pills and antidepressants.
Constipation (being unable to pass stool, or poop, normally).
Dehydration or electrolyte imbalance.
Digestive tract bleeding.
Infection.
Kidney disease.
Liver shunt.
Renal or Uremic encephalopathy is a cerebral dysfunction caused by the accumulation of toxins as a result of acute or chronic renal failure. The clinical presentation is broad, and the clinical course is always progressive when untreated.
SYMPTOMS:
Vomiting.
Emotional volatility.
Decreased cognitive function.
Disorientation.
Confusion.
Bizarre behavior.
Stupor, coma.
CAUSE:
Being hospitalized, especially for a serious condition that requires intensive care.
Advanced age.
Blockages in the blood vessels in your arms or legs (peripheral artery disease)
Diabetes.
High blood pressure.
Heart failure.
Kidney diseases.
Labyrinthitis
An inner ear infection. It causes a delicate structure deep inside your ear called the labyrinth to become inflamed, affecting your hearing and balance.
SYMPTOMS:
a feeling of pressure inside your ear(s)
ringing or humming in your ear(s) (tinnitus)
fluid or pus leaking out of your ear(s)
ear pain.
feeling sick (nausea) or being sick.
a high temperature (fever) of 38C (100.4F) or above.
changes in vision, such as blurred vision or double vision.
mild headaches.
CAUSE:
Usually caused by a virus and sometimes by bacteria. Having a cold or flu can trigger the condition. Less often, an ear infection may lead to labyrinthitis. Other causes include allergies or certain medicines that are bad for the inner ear.
Meniere’s Disease (MD)
A disorder caused by the build of fluid in the chambers in the inner ear.
SYMPTOMS:
Vertigo, nausea, vomiting, loss of hearing, ringing in the ears, headache, loss of balance, and sweating.
CAUSE:
Unknown, but it’s associated with a problem with pressure deep inside the ear. Factors that are thought to increase your risk include poor fluid drainage in your ear. an immune system disorder.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
A potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system).
In MS, the immune system attacks the protective sheath (myelin) that covers nerve fibers and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body. Eventually, the disease can cause permanent damage or deterioration of the nerves.
SYMPTOMS:
Typically affect movement. Symptoms vary widely and depend on the amount of nerve damage and which nerves are affected. Some people with severe MS may lose the ability to walk independently or at all, while others may experience long periods of remission without any new symptoms.
Numbness or weakness in one or more limbs that typically occurs on one side of your body at a time, or the legs and trunk
Electric-shock sensations that occur with certain neck movements, especially bending the neck forward (Lhermitte sign)
Tremor, lack of coordination, or unsteady gait
Vision problems are also common, including:
Partial or complete loss of vision, usually in one eye at a time, often with pain during eye movement
Prolonged double vision
Blurry vision
Multiple sclerosis symptoms may also include:
Slurred speech
Fatigue
Dizziness
Tingling or pain in parts of your body
Problems with sexual, bowel, and bladder function
Post Polio Syndrome
A group of potentially disabling signs and symptoms that appear decades after the initial polio illness. These signs and symptoms usually appear between 30 to 40 years after having polio.
SYMPTOMS:
Muscle and joint weakness and pain that gets worse over time
Feeling easily fatigued and exhausted
Losing muscle tissue (atrophy)
Breathing or swallowing problems
Sleep-related breathing disorders, such as sleep apnea
Decreased tolerance of cold temperatures
CAUSE:
A polio infection often damages or destroys many of these motor neurons. Because there are fewer motor neurons, the remaining neurons sprout new fibers and grow bigger.
This promotes recovery of the use of muscles, but it also may stress the nerve cell body to nourish the additional fibers. Over the years, this stress may be too much. This may cause the gradual breakdown of the sprouted fibers and, eventually, of the neuron itself.
Risk Factors:
Severity of initial polio infection. The more severe the initial infection, the more likely that you’ll have signs and symptoms of post-polio syndrome.
Age at onset of initial illness. If you developed polio as an adolescent or adult rather than as a child, your chances of developing post-polio syndrome increase.
Recovery. The greater your recovery after acute polio, the more likely it seems that post-polio syndrome will develop. This may be because greater recovery places additional stress on motor neurons.
Excessive physical activity. If you often exercise to the point of exhaustion or fatigue, you might overwork already stressed-out motor neurons and increase your risk of post-polio syndrome.
Uveitis
When the eye becomes red and swollen (inflamed).A form of eye inflammation. It affects the middle layer of tissue in the eye wall (uvea). Warning signs often come on suddenly and get worse quickly.
There are different types of uveitis, depending on which part of the eye is affected:
uveitis at the front of the eye (anterior uveitis or iritis) – this can cause redness and pain and tends to start quickly. This is the most common type of uveitis, accounting for about 3 in 4 cases
uveitis in the middle of the eye (intermediate uveitis) – this can cause floaters and blurred vision
uveitis at the back of the eye (posterior uveitis) – this can cause vision problems
SYMPTOMS:
blurry vision
eye pain – usually a dull ache in or around your eye, which may be worse when focusing
eye redness
sensitivity to light (photophobia)
blurred or cloudy vision
small shapes moving across your field of vision (floaters)
loss of the ability to see objects at the side of your field of vision (peripheral vision)
CAUSE:
Many cases of uveitis are linked to a problem with the immune system (the body’s defence against illness and infection). For unknown reasons, the immune system can become overactive in the eye.
Less often, uveitis can be caused by an infection or an eye injury, and it can also happen after eye surgery.
In some cases, a cause cannot be identified.
Vestibular Neuronitis
A condition that affects the vestibular nerve, which connects the inner ear to the brain, causing prolonged vertigo usually in the absence of significant hearing loss. It may cause a person to experience such symptoms as sudden, severe vertigo (spinning/swaying sensation), dizziness, balance problems, nausea and vomiting.
Vestibular neuritis involves swelling of a branch of the vestibulocochlear nerve (the vestibular portion) that affects balance. Labyrinthitis involves the swelling of both branches of the vestibulocochlear nerve (the vestibular portion and the cochlear portion) that affects balance and hearing. The symptoms of labyrinthitis are the same as vestibular neuritis plus the additional symptoms of tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and/or hearing loss.
SYMPTOMS:
Sudden, severe vertigo (spinning/swaying sensation)
Dizziness
Balance difficulties
Nausea, vomiting
Concentration difficulties
CAUSE:
Researchers think the most likely cause is a viral infection of the inner ear, swelling around the vestibulocochlear nerve (caused by a virus), or a viral infection that has occurred somewhere else in the body.
Çould have an auto-immune component
Vestibulitis
A stinging or burning-like pain at the vaginal introitus that is provoked by sexual intercourse and the insertion of objects such as a tampon or speculum into the vagina. Vestibulitis usually develops between the ages of 20 and 50 years, often following an infection of the lower genital tract.
