Nerve Diseases, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

This book describes Nerve Diseases, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases
The Nervous system comprises:
1.Central Nervous System
a.Brain
b.Spinal cord
2.Peripheral Nervous System
a.Neuron
b.Peripheral ganglia
c.Autonomic Nervous System
The nervous system comprises 2 basic types of cells:
1.Neurons - the actual nerve cell
2.Glia - Glial cells are support cells called astrocytes and oligodendrocytes and outnumber neurons
A neuron is a dedicated type of cell found in the nervous system of most humans
The neurons make use of electrical impulses and chemical signals to transmit information between different areas of the brain and between the brain and the rest of the nervous system.
Neurons have 3 basic components:
1.A cell body (soma)
Within the cell body is a nucleus which regulates the cell’s activities and contains the cell’s genetic material.
2.An axon
The axon appears like a long tail and transmits messages from the cell.
3.One or many dendrites
Dendrites appear like the branches of a tree and receive messages for the cell.
Neurons correspond with each other by sending chemicals, called neurotransmitters, across a tiny space, called a synapse, between the axons and dendrites of adjacent neurons
There are 3 classes of neurons:
1.Sensory neurons (or afferent neurons): send information from sensory receptors (e.g., in skin, eyes, nose, tongue, ears) toward the central nervous system.
2.Motor neurons (or efferent neurons): send information away from the central nervous system to muscles or glands.
They regulate voluntary muscle activity such as speaking and carry messages from nerve cells in the brain to the muscles.
3.Inter-neurons: send information between sensory neurons and motor neurons.
There are about 100 billion neurons alone in the brain and probably 10 time that amount in the human body.

Motor neuron disease (MND) is a rare but devastating illness
This leads to death through progressive muscular paralysis.
MND can cause wrist drop, stiffness, hand and leg weakness
It can also cause respiratory muscular weakness and breathlessness
Bulbar paralysis may lead to difficulty in speech and swallowing
There is also weakness of the throat and mouth muscles with drooling
The diagnosis of MND is primarily clinical with progressive weakness.
Electrodiagnostic testing of the UMN and LMN can confirm the diagnosis
Riluzole should be offered to all patients with MND to slow disease progression.
Regular physical, occupational therapy will prolong life and prevent complications

Facial Palsy is the pressure on the facial nerve causing paralysis
The cause is unknown but ranged from hereditary to sarcoidosis
The facial muscles on one side is weak and drooping
The eye cannot close properly and there is saliva dribbling
The treatment is to start urgently on a course of oral prednisolone
Physiotherapy of the facial muscles is used to restore the facial muscle tone.
The eyes need to be protected by wearing glasses or using eye ointment
Most patients will recover within 3 weeks of treatment

Huntington's Chorea is a progressive degenerative brain condition
The affected basal ganglia causes choreiform movements and mental deterioration

-An original poem by Kenneth Kee
Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease (CMT) is an inherited motor and sensory neuropathy
This hereditary sensorimotor neuropathy and peroneal muscular atrophy is a heterogeneous inherited disorder of nerves that is featured by:
1.Loss of muscle tissue and touch sensation predominantly in the feet and legs
2.Loss of muscle and sensation in the hands and arms in the advanced stages of disease.
Other diseases are Parkinson Disease, Dementia, Stroke, Neuralgia
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Nerve Cell
Chapter 2 Nerve and Diseases
Chapter 3

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Jan 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463023563

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

Nerve Diseases,

A

Simple

Guide

To

The Condition,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2019 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Nerve Diseases, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What You Need to Treat Nerve Diseases)

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog: http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiolographical account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog: http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiolographical account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Nerve cell:

The Nervous system comprises:

1. Central Nervous System

a. Brain

b. Spinal cord

2. Peripheral Nervous System

a. Neuron

b. Peripheral ganglia

c. Autonomic Nervous System

The nervous system is made up of two basic types of cells:

1. Neurons - the actual nerve cell

From Wikipedia

2. Glia - Glial cells are support cells called astrocytes and oligodendrocytes and outnumber neurons in many parts of the nervous system.

A neuron or nerve cell is a dedicated type of cell found in the nervous system of most humans

The neurons make use of electrical impulses and chemical signals to transmit information between different areas of the brain and between the brain and the rest of the nervous system.

Neurons have three basic components:

1. A cell body (soma)

Within the cell body is a nucleus which regulates the cell’s activities and contains the cell’s genetic material.

2. An axon

The axon appears like a long tail and transmits messages from the cell.

3. One or many dendrites

Dendrites appear like the branches of a tree and receive messages for the cell.

Neurons correspond with each other by sending chemicals, called neurotransmitters, across a tiny space, called a synapse, between the axons and dendrites of adjacent neurons.

There are three classes of neurons:

1. Sensory neurons (or afferent neurons): send information from sensory receptors (e.g., in skin, eyes, nose, tongue, ears) toward the central nervous system.

2. Motor neurons (or efferent neurons): transmit information away from the central nervous system to muscles or glands.

They regulate voluntary muscle activity such as speaking and carry messages from nerve cells in the brain to the muscles.

3. Inter-neurons: send information between sensory neurons and motor neurons.

Most inter-neurons are sited in the central nervous system.

Within these three classes of neurons are many hundreds of different types each with specific message-carrying capabilities.

Neurons are the most varied type of cells in the body.

Cells of the nervous system, called nerve cells or neurons, are specialized to transmit messages through an electrochemical process.

The human brain contains about 100 billion neurons at birth.

Neurons differ in many various shapes and sizes.

Some of the tiniest neurons have cell bodies that are only 4 microns wide.

Some of the largest neurons have cell bodies that are 100 microns wide.

(1 micron is equivalent to one thousandth of a millimeter).

1. Corticospinal neurons

(from motor cortex to spinal cord)

2. Primary afferent neurons

(Neurons that spread from the skin into the spinal cord and up to the brain stem), can be several feet long

A neuron (Nerve Cell) has many of the same organelles of a cell such as mitochondria, cytoplasm and a nucleus as other cells in the body.

Neurons take part in basic cellular processes such as protein synthesis and energy production.

1. Nucleus

Nucleus has genetic material (chromosomes) such as information for cell development and synthesis of proteins necessary for cell maintenance and survival.

Neurons are enclosed by a cell membrane.

2. Nucleolus

Nucleolus generates ribosomes required for translation of genetic information into proteins

3. Nissl Bodies

Nissl Bodies are groups of ribosomes utilized for protein synthesis.

4. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)

Endoplasmic reticulum is a system of tubes for transport of materials within cytoplasm.

ER can have ribosomes (rough ER) or no ribosomes (smooth ER).

With ribosomes, the endoplasmic reticulum is necessary for protein synthesis.

5. Golgi Apparatus

Golgi Apparatus is a membrane-bound structure essential in packaging peptides and proteins (such as neurotransmitters) into vesicles.

6. Microfilaments and Microtubules

Microfilaments and Microtubules are structures of transport for materials within a neuron and may be utilized for structural support.

7. Mitochondria

Mitochondria generate energy to fuel cellular activities.

Neurons (Nerve Cells) differ from the other cells in the body because:

1. Neurons have specialized cell components called dendrites and axons.

a. Dendrites bring electrical signals to the cell body.

b. Axons take information away from the cell body.

Neurons correspond with each other through an electrochemical process.

Neurons have some specialized structures (synapses) and chemicals (neurotransmitters).

One way to categorize neurons is by the number of extensions that spread from the neuron's cell body:

1. Bipolar neurons have two processes extending from the cell body (such as retinal cells, olfactory epithelium cells).

2. Pseudo-unipolar cells (such as dorsal root ganglion cells).

In reality, these cells have 2 axons rather than an axon and dendrite.

One axon spreads centrally toward the spinal cord; the other axon spreads toward the skin or muscle.

3. Multi-polar neurons have many processes that spread from the cell body.

Each neuron has only one axon (such as: spinal motor neurons, pyramidal neurons, Purkinje cells).

There are several differentiations between axons and dendrites:

1. Axons

a. Take information away from the cell body

b. Smooth Surface

c. Generally only 1 axon per cell

d. No ribosomes

e. Can have myelin

f. Branch further from the cell body

2.