When Our Brain Becomes Ill – Medical Conditions in Neurology and Psychiatry
Both of my grandfathers died of a stroke. A colleague at the university died of multiple sclerosis. The sister of one of my daughter’s friends has schizophrenia. The son of a close friend has autism. We don’t have to look too far among our relatives and friends to find situations, some of them tragic, involving medical conditions that arise from a disordered brain. A famous psychiatrist, Nancy Andreasen, wrote a book about schizophrenia way back in 1984 and titled it The Broken Brain. We live in our brain. So, when our brain falls apart, we fall apart. How does all this work? It’s a fascinating topic. (Most recent site update on June 4, 2023.)
Welcome to the Neuroscience Research and Development Consultancy website. Have a question or a comment?
Send it to us at: Comment@NeuroSciRandD.com
• schizophrenia
• Alzheimer’s disease
• autism
• PTSD
• Parkinson’s disease
• bipolar disorder
• epilepsy
• stroke
• depression
• panic disorder
• multiple sclerosis
• migraine
• ADHD
New or Updated pages as of June 4, 2023:
• New Book Introduction (FREE PAGE)
• ADHD (FREE PAGE)
• A Lady with Worms Crawling Out of Her Skin (FREE PAGE)
• Best Medications for Multiple Episodes of Schizophrenia (subscriber-only page)
• Prenatal Safety and Methylphenidate (subscriber-only page)
• The Cause of Schizophrenia (subscriber-only page)
A Great Site Filled with Good Information
During the eight years since 2015 the Neuroscience Research & Development Consultancy has provided trustworthy explanations about medical conditions in neurology and psychiatry, almost like a personal second opinion. We cover new medical discoveries and provide proven medical information explaining why brains warp into schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, bipolar disorder, and other brain-based medical conditions. And, for some of these conditions, we describe how to prevent them. We have straightforward information and stories about clinical conditions and patients.
Free Newsletter to Everyone Upon Request
Sign up today! Sign up for our free monthly newsletter. Every month it has articles about recent developments in neurological and psychiatric medical conditions and new treatments.
This Website Has No Ads and Allows No Tracking
One thing for which many people praise our website is that there’s no tracking and no data sharing. You will not see any of those “Like” buttons for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Reddit, or any of the other sites and platforms which make their money by tracking people. And we don’t share data with any other sites or platforms. See more about this when we discuss our “no ads” policy below.
Become a Subscriber to Help Support Our Work
Most of our site is free to anyone. For access to our subscriber pages you can sign up online and, if you want, it’s easy to cancel online. For example, under the heading “Replies, Discussions, and Conversations“, subscribers can read the true unusual case of the lady with worms crawling out of her skin. Here’s a request. You can “join the club” and be one of our site’s cheerleaders by helping support us with a low-cost subscription (99¢ for one month). You can sign up online on your mobile phone, laptop, or desktop, and, if you want to cancel, cancel online using your mobile phone, laptop, or desktop.
Keep Up with What Works and What Doesn’t in Neurology and Psychiatry
Modern medical science continues to find new treatments, new medications, new cures. The international neuroscience research community is hard at work. As you read about these medical conditions take heart in knowing that all is well and getting better. We are on your side. We praise what works, debunk what doesn’t work, and encourage you to better health and finding better healthcare.
A Bit More Introduction About These Brain-Based Medical Conditions
Schizophrenia
We explain schizophrenia, what causes it, what it is, and early signs that it might be starting. We go into describing later symptoms as it continues and worsens and discuss how long it lasts and whether a person can stop their medications. We provide descriptions of the “negative symptoms” of schizophrenia, different from the usual positive delusion and hallucination symptoms everyone knows about. And, schizophrenia is different in men and women. In addition, there’s a free page on treatments for schizophrenia.
Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s disease remains a medical mystery despite everyone feeling that we know a lot about it. We do know the early warning signs and the symptoms that are the main problems in Alzheimer’s. It’s interesting to know that Alzheimer’s symptoms are different for women and men. And while medical science might be confused about what causes it, the science is more certain about ways to minimize the risk of getting it.
And here’s a link to a heartwarming but sad poem about dementia, “My Own Blood”. We think you’ll like it. It’ll make you smile and cry at the same time.
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is a strange one, the medical condition that used to be called manic depression. The mood state of mania proves one unusual point: yes, you really can feel too good. Bipolar disorder is treatable, with many, many effective medications that all have good safety records.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder, while frightening when it first appears (scare you damn to death!), it’s not fatal and it really is readily treatable. Those panic attacks (real super bad anxiety attacks) can be quieted. What works fastest and best is a combination of medication and therapy or medication and just education. And getting it treated should be no problem. It’s a well understood medical condition. There are many good treatments, many medications, and many highly effective therapies. You can learn to calm the panic attacks and not let them worry you.
Depression
When we talk about depression, we mean the real deal, serious clinical medical depression. It’s a whole different mental state than what we all know as the “Sunday afternoon blues”. The good news is that serious depression, even long-standing, treatment-resistant depression, can be treated much more easily and readily these days. We have new tools, better than in the past. But understand that while the medications we have for depression do work, but not all medications for depression work for all depressed people. Some trial and error is needed initially but eventually almost everyone succeeds at getting better.
ADHD
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It starts in childhood. But it often doesn’t stop after childhood or adolescence, lingering on into adult years for most people. A recent finding is that it can vary in severity from time to time, less noticeable at some times but then more severe at other times. Also, as the years go by, it can interfere with life much less during some intervals but then be more intrusive during other stretches of time. The good news is that, if diagnosed and treated correctly, it can provide a person with a great many skills and benefits. ADHD usually responds well to the proper treatment. We describe the several recommended medications and valuable therapies.
Epilepsy
Epilepsy, this it, a seizure disorder, is really common. Everyone knows about epilepsy. Physicians know how to treat epilepsy. Though, of course, a specially-trained and experienced neurologist, an epileptologist, is the best in this area. And, it usually responds well to one of the many available effective medical treatments.
Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s is another brain-based medical condition. But, good news, a huge amount of Parkinson’s disease research has been done and continues. Now there are new and better medications and formulations, and more on the way. Gracious and conscientious famous people have helped to educate the public and have generously funded a lot of new research.
Migraine
If you have migraines you’re lucky to be alive at his particular time in medical history. The past years have been a long-awaited and welcome period for migraine treatment, so you’re living during the age of successful modern migraine medications. With our greatly increased understanding of migraines, we’ve found new ways to design medicines to work better and, in addition to treating a headache, even to prevent migraines.
We Don’t Accept Ads – We Are Subscriber-Supported
We don’t accept any advertisement money. We can do this because we’re supported by our subscribers, not by ad revenue. We’re not greedy. Enough is enough. In addition, we don’t collect your personal information and you’re not being tracked, nor do we accept money to put other’s sites’ tracking buttons, you know, those “Like” buttons, on our pages. You’ll not see any buttons for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit, or any other tracking site. When you see these platform’s buttons on other site’s pages it means that the platform knows you’ve been to that page, that is, you’re being tracked.
Unbiased and Independent Information on Brain-based Medical Conditions
We are an unbiased, independent company and website. We don’t have ads and we don’t accept outside support. Not from insurance companies. And, not from drug companies. In fact, not from any companies. Further, we are not funded by any government agency.
Ask Us a Question
Send us an email and we can reply by email. Our email address is: Comment@NeuroSciRandD.com
Or, send us a email and if you want we can post your question anonymously along with our reply online in the “Replies to Readers” section under the “Replies, Discussions, and Conversations” button in the menu.
If you ask us to, we can post your name with our reply.
Also, if you subscribe (see above) to our site you’ll see a Comment Box at the bottom of each page where you can leave comments or ask questions. If we reply in the Comment Box your question and our answer will be visible to all of our website subscribers. It’s sort of a neurology/psychiatry club.
Why Do We All Like Brain-active (Psychoactive) Beverages?
Tea, coffee, wine, whiskey, beer. Pick your poison, as they say. Or smokables, cigarettes and marijuana. Each contains plugs looking for a socket. And those sockets are on cells in your brain, receptors on neurons. The plugs are psychoactive molecules, caffeine in coffee, theophylline in tea, ethanol in beer, wine, and whiskey, nicotine in cigarettes, and the THC in marijuana. All feel-good substances.
The human need is comfort. (See our Old World Cabbage Roll recipe.)
Helpful links:
ClinicalTrials.gov, National Institutes of Health, US Library of Medicine
NINDS, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
NIH, the National Institute of Mental Health
A recent email from a reader in Canada was similar to many other emails, questions, and comments that we receive. To help others with similar situations while protecting the identity of the sender we decided to post this summary of our reply. This particular reply is relevant specifically to the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area, but much of the discussion is relevant everywhere.
The situation was a mother with a 21 year old daughter. The daughter needed medical care but refused to get help. Young adults present a dilemma to their parents because most parents still view their children as their children, but legally they’re full-grown adults who can make their own decisions. Mom and Dad no longer have a say in medical decisions. So parents are unable to force their adult children into care or mandate that they take medication.
Parents can try to persuade, however. Try to keep the communication back and forth an open channel. Remind your adult child that you love them and emotionally support them. Emphasize that you just want them to stay healthy and to feel better. Sometimes a person will more likely listen to advice from some other family member or a friend. (Young adults feel that parents can be so boring!)
One approach that sometimes works is to help them understand the need for at least a medical appointment with a general physician to review of their medical health. There are many physical problems that, until a careful diagnosis is made, can look entirely like a mental health issue.
For example, here’s a list of a few of the medical disorders can look like schizophrenia.
• Wilson’s disease
• hyperthyroidism
• seizure disorders
• medication toxicity
• brain lesions
• glutamate receptor autoimmune encephalitis
For each mental disorder there are several medical illnesses that mimic the mental condition.
For the question from the Toronto area, below is some specific information.
The Toronto Police have said that they recognize the complexity of mental health and addictions issues and that they continually work on and update their strategies to give effective, compassionate, and respectful responses to these people with these conditions.
Specifically for mental health support there is the page Toronto Police Service 2-1-1 Central that advises you on 211 Central, a 24-hour hot line to link people to government services and, in addition, community-led organizations providing social services.
These social services include:
• Food
• Housing
• Mental Health
• Employment/Training
• Healthcare
• Black & Indigenous Focused Programs
Toronto Community Crisis Service
The Toronto Police Service has partnered with the City of Toronto to dispatch Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS) staff for people experiencing or witnessing a mental health crisis by calling 2-1-1 or 9-1-1. Appropriate calls for individuals 16 years of age and older will be dispatched based on the call location, dispatch criteria, and availability of teams.
The TCCS is a new approach to responding to someone in crisis that focuses on health, prevention and well-being. The service provides an alternative to police response, creating a community-based, client centered, trauma-informed response to non-emergency crisis calls and wellness checks.
This service aims to respond to the needs and desires of the communities most impacted by policing and establish trust and confidence in a new community-based response model.
While we at the Neuroscience Research and Development Consultancy, LLC, do our best to provide helpful information, our website is not able to provide medical advice or care. Please see our page on Important Legal Notices which explains our limitations. It’s on our site at the “Legal” button in the menu at the top of the page.