The most common neurological disorders in adults

Neurological disorders are common and may affect a million of people each year, yet many people may be unaware they have one.  Any symptom that manifests in any part of the nervous system, it could lead to neurological disorder. Understanding symptoms of neurological disorders is very important, as well as seeking medical advice from a practitioner to receive an appropriate diagnosis and treatment. 

Headaches

Headaches, or recurring headaches, are among the most common nervous system conditions.

It is generally estimated that almost half of the adult population has had at least one headache in the past year.

Headaches are associated with a burden on the person and on society resulting in pain, disability, and deterioration in the quality of life.

Types of headache:

Migraine, tension headache, and drug overuse headache are the most common and are responsible for high levels of disability and poor health in the population.

Migraine

Migraine This is a primary headache. appears most often at puberty and mainly affects women between 35 and 45 years, its intensity decreases after menopause in women.

It is triggered by the activation of a mechanism deep in the brain that releases inflammatory substances, causing pain, around the nerves and blood vessels in the head.

Seizures have the following characteristics:

• moderate to severe in intensity;
• with unilateral and / or throbbing pain;
• aggravated by usual physical activities;
• can last from a few hours to 2 or 3 days;

The frequency is between once a year and once a week; in children, seizures tend to be shorter and abdominal symptoms are more pronounced.

Tension headache

It is the most common primary headache.

In some populations, more than 70% of people report episodic tension headaches;

The chronic form of headache, occurs more than 15 days a month and affects 1 to 3% of adults.

Tension headaches often appear in adolescence and affect 3 women to 2 men.

The mechanism of onset could be stress-related or associated with cervical musculoskeletal problems.

Episodic tension headache attacks usually last a few hours but may persist for several days.

Chronic tension headache can be permanent and is much more incapacitating than the episodic form.

This headache is often described as a band-shaped pressure around the head, which radiates from the neck to the head or diffuses from the head to the neck.

The treatment

Appropriate headache treatment involves training of healthcare professionals, accurate diagnosis and recognition of the condition, treatment with cost-effective drugs, simple lifestyle changes, and patient education. The main therapeutic classes to manage them are analgesics, antiemetics, migraine medications, and prophylactic drugs.

Dr. Shadi Sharifi, Neurologist and Specialist in Sleep Medicine graduated from Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University and member of the French council. She is one of the rare French speaking neurologist in the United Arab Emirates