Fatal Neurological Diseases

Neurological diseases are those that hit the nervous system and since it is the brain, nerves and spinal cord that are responsible for the control of all the parts of the body, any abnormality in their functioning can be very dangerous and even fatal at times. While all neurological diseases would be fatal if they are not detected on time and treated properly, there are some that have no treatment at all and which eventually do lead to death. These are the fatal neurological diseases. These diseases are without cure and in fact, in most of the cases, the cause of the diseases is itself not known for any cure to be developed. The only intervention that is possible here is that the symptoms of the disease are made less severe with the help of different means like medication, physical therapy, physiotherapy, psychotherapy, occupational therapy, etc. Although there is a long list of fatal neurological diseases, the most commonly occurring ones that kill huge populations include:

Alzheimer’s disease:

• This is the most common example of fatal neurological diseases. Its toll reaches to 4 million people in America today.
• This degenerative disorder occurs due to the damage of neurons in the brain which progresses over time, ultimately killing the person.
• With the progress of the disease, symptoms like memory loss, communication issues, loss of cognitive skills and behavioral issues occur.
• Tacrine and donepezila are drugs that are being used to delay death by reducing symptoms.

Parkinson’s disease:

• This is another great example of fatal neurological diseases that has fixed the death of over a million Americans at present.
• It is both chronic and progressive and is neither contagious nor genetic.
• With disease progression, symptoms worsen from muscle stiffness, tremors and balance and coordination loss to constipation, insomnia, depression and speech issues.
• No cure has been found yet and the muscle stiffness symptom is made les severe with the administration of Levadopa.
  

Huntington’s disease:

• This is an example of hereditary fatal neurological diseases. It is degenerative and non-contagious.
• It prolongs for around 25-30 years and always results in death.
• The common symptoms include clumsiness. OCDs, personality changes, dementia and walking issues. Mood swings, etc.

Multiple Sclerosis:

• This is another degenerative neurological disorder that is ultimately fatal. Here, the brain and spinal cord cells have lesions in them which hinder with signal transmission.
• More than 2.5 million Americans are currently afflicted with this condition. It has no known cause or treatment and it is neither caused due to hereditary defects nor viral infection nor is it autoimmune.
• Infusion therapy is being used commonly these days in order to make the symptoms of the disease less severe.

There is immense research that has been dedicated to this field of fatal neurological diseases considering the high tolls they are taking. A lot of different ways of approaching the diseases like stem cell therapy, etc are being developed and their results have been promising. However, as of now, they are all under trial and it will be a while before these fatal diseases are cured.