Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following an experience or witnessing of a life threatening events. Most common cases are usually soldiers with military combat, people of natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or physical or sexual assault. Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms can come and go with flashbacks or reliving the traumatic event for minutes or even days at a time.

PTSD symptoms are generally grouped into three types, intrusive memories, avoidance and numbing, and increased anxiety or emotional arousal. People who are diagnosed with this tend to fall into one of these categories with avoidance and emotional numbing they usually try to avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event, feel hopeless about the future, memory problems start occurring and avoiding activities they once enjoyed. In the case with anxiety and increased emotional arousal they tend to show irritability or anger, overwhelming guilt or shame, trouble sleeping and get easily startled or frightened. With intrusive memories they often relive the experience through nightmares, flashbacks and upsetting dreams about the traumatic event

. People who suffer from this usually may develop additional disorders such as depression, substance abuse, problems of memory and cognition, and others problems of physical and mental health. This disorder impair a person’s ability to function in society or family life, including occupational instability, and martial problems and divorces. They usually feel left out or go around thinking that they do not fit or function properly like use to which could lead to other forms of depression.

 I actually experiences a situation like this with a fellow co-worker who was suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder. He had a military background, one day at work I noticed him in the back room talking to himself and banging the floor with a hard wooden stick, so I asked him if he was okay. He said yes, I just came to the back because if I stay in the floor I feel like I am going to kill someone. I told him just to calm down and took that stick away from him I told him he could stay in the back as long as he wanted so that he could clam down, and I asked him what was going on so he could vent his mind. That is when he told me he had been in the military and was suffering from PTSD that he would get mood swings if he was not on his medication and then I asked, are you taking you medication? He said no I decided to get off of it, so I just stayed there talking to him for a while until he calmed down I guess all he really needed was someone to be there so he could talk his mind. So I can clearly understand and see how people with this condition would have trouble functioning in a society because of this disorder it would not allow them to react how they want too. I have the deepest respect to all the people who serve in the military and would want them to get the help that is needed if they feel that this could do them good.  

I found this video it is simple but gets to the point and gives an explanation from a soldiers point of view who is suffering from PTSD and trying to inform others that there is help out there for those who need it because you shouldn’t have to go through this alone.

Life without Pain (HSAN)

Life without pain

What would you do in order not to feel pain? It might sound like a movie or a military experiment to create a super soldier never to feel pain in the combat field in order to win a war, but in reality there is a disorder known as hereditary sensory autonomic neuropathy (HSAN). Sometimes when people feel pain they might complain or ask why do we have to feel pain? Why does are body react to pain? In reality pain is what keeps us alive and keeps you from doing reckless activities that can kill you or harm yourself. Feeling pain is just a way of life living without pain is something like a curse since you will never know a limit to control yourself.

 HSAN is a group of genetic disorders characterized by 5 different degrees of sensory loss with varying degrees of autonomic dysfunction it affects the development of sensory and autonomic nerves. The type 1 is one of the most common condition usually starts at early childhood or adulthood and is characterized by nerve abnormalities in the legs and feet, many people with this condition have tingling, weakness, and a reduced ability to feel pain and sense hot and cold. Without having this the child without supervision will be exposed to the dangerous of like and would have to be looked after since they will not be able to control themselves from causing harm to their own bodies.

 As the disorder progresses the sensory abnormalities can affect the hands, arms, shoulders, abdomen and spread to the whole body. Individual also experience muscle wasting and weakness as they get older. It also affects the body’s reflexes from protecting its self from harm as you already know when something is going to hit you in the face your body will automatically raise an arm or move one way or the other to avoid getting hit but in this case it will not and will be exposed to dangers that could be avoided.  So their bodies will not be able to distinguish pain and since it is not seeing or feeling the pain the person will be at a higher risk of causing harm to their body.

This condition is in most cases inherited by a parent which means that an affected person has one parent with the condition. This disorder will take patience from the parents so that they could support the child and help them from doing causing harm to themselves also they will need to examine the child daily to make sure they do not have any cut and blisters that could get infected and if not treated could lead to something much serious. I see this as something very sad that could happen to someone so you ng because as a child all you want to do it have fun and play around and you know while playing you will get hurt and injured but that is just a way of life you will learn from your mistake and be prepared in the future not to do the same things or avoid doing something because there will be consequences, but with this disorder I see it as stealing a child’s childhood with less life learning experiences so life without pain will be more like a curse than a cure.  

Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. The symptoms usually develop slowly and get worse over time becoming severe enough to interfere with daily tasks. Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease where dementia symptoms gradually worsen over a number of years. The disease gradually progresses to more serious memory loss, confusion, depression, restlessness, hallucinations, delusions, sleeplessness and loss of appetite.  With Alzheimer’s the total brain size shrinks the tissues have progressively fewer nerve cells and connections. The most common early symptom of Alzheimer’s is difficulty remembering newly learned information.

You would have the person asking repetitive questions or carrying on the same conversations over and over. They will misplace personal items, forget events or appointments and even get lost on familiar routes. People who suffer from this lose the ability to carry on a conversation, respond to their environment and every day tasks. Their memory and alertness vary substantially from time to time, suggesting that many of their problems result from malfunctioning neurons, rather than the death of neurons but the dying or brain cells are still present. It would also affect reasoning skills and their judgment by making them perform poor decision making ability and poor understanding of safety risks so most people need to be taken care of by family member or in facilities were they will be looked over at in a daily bases.

Hemispherectomy

Hemispherectomy is the disconnecting or removing one side of the brains hemisphere from the other. It is only considered for patients which are usually children who have severe epilepsy with seizures on one side of the brain. Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain’s electrical system and abnormal electrical impulses causes brief change in movement, behavior, sensation, or awareness. The seizures may last from a couple of seconds to a few minutes depending on the condition of the person. The seizures may occurs many times during a day depending on the severity of the condition. The person will lose control of what they were doing and could be very dangerous because could fall and make things much worse.

Many people try and control this situation with medication which at times it does work but with other more severe cases the doctors could only recommend a hemispherectomy and hope that it all goes well so that the person could have a chance to live a normal life. The remaining functioning portion of the brain will take over the tasks that were previously controlled by the part of the brain that has been removed. This is describe as brain plasticity were the brain has the ability to change and adapt to the new changes that have occurred. Plasticity is defined as the brain’s capacity to shape by experience, its capacity to learn and remember and ability to reorganize and recover after injury. So once the hemispherectomy has been preform the brain will realize that there has been a change done and will do all that is need to organize it’s self so that it could function like it is supposed to.

You have to take into consideration that by doing this procedure the body will lose some functions and body movement that may never come back on the side opposite of the operation even after therapy. The results of hemispherectomy are actually quite good and patients will experience complete or nearly complete seizure control which is always a good thing to look forward for. Some people will still need to take anti-seizure medication but eventually be able to stop or reduce the dosage to a low minimum.

The Phantom Limb

Phantom Limb Syndrome

The Phantom limb syndrome is a condition in which the person has had a body part amputated or removed but the sensation of having that arm or leg feels as if that body part is still there. They often experience pain which could worsen when the person is stressed due to this condition. Some of the pains that people who experience this say that it feels like a stabbing, piercing, or burning pain where that body part was located. They still have the feeling that the limb is attached to their body, but when in reality that body part is no longer there. This is caused because the brain continues to receive signals from the nerves that originally carried impulses from the missing limb. The exact cause of the phantom limb syndrome is unknown but some studies say that the sensations are there because the brain is attempting to reorganize sensory information after the amputation of the body part. The brain is trying to adjust itself to the changes that have occurred to the body part. It is very important to tell the doctor if they experience any pain or other sensations since early treatment can improve the chances of success. There is no actual test to diagnose someone to say they experience phantom pain. All the doctors could do is ask if they have been experiencing any pain or other sensations in the body part that has been amputated.  They could also recommend the person some medication to try an ease the pain but as you already know the medication would only work for some time. There are also other methods that doctors could use in some cases which is called electrical nerve stimulation. There are different forms of this treatment that they could conduct, one being transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) were a tiny electric current is sent through the skin to points on the nerve pathway. Another being Transcranial magnetic stimulation were a strong magnetic pulse is sent though the scalp into the brain. There is also another technique being used which is called the mirror box therapy were the patient with the amputated limb places a mirror between there body where they can see one body part and with reflection being the amputated limb so in their brain they could see that they have that limb and more it around and send signal to the brain that it is moving and this treatment could also ease some of that pain which is caused by the phantom limb syndrome.  Phantom limb video

Drug Abuse and Addiction

Many people experience problems with drug abuse or addictions. First they might want to experiment with a drug or try something new, or maybe they are peer pressured by some friends. By using drugs for the first time does not necessarily mean a person will become an addict. Yes, it will give the person the high they are looking for temporary, but at the same time it is causing so much harm to the body. There are many reasons people turn to drugs at first they never believe that they will become an addict they just do it as a regular things. Within a couple of months they notice they have not stopped and never realize that they have been addicted to something in order to stimulate their bodies.  Others might do this in order to ease problems such as stress, anxiety or even depression. They believe and feel once they use the drugs that the problems they had will go away. Why do people become addicts? Some the problems start at home they might have a family history of addictions or abuse, neglect, or other traumatic experiences in childhood. Others might just have a mental disorder which makes them believe that what they are doing in nothing wrong. The addiction of drugs affects the brain so once the brain has felt that feeling it will remember it and want to experience it again and again. The drugs will take the same significance as other survival behaviors like eating and drinking and will see it as a need to survive and ask for it frequently. The drugs will affect the brain making it think you are thinking clearly when in reality you will not. It will also impair you from having good judgment and it will also take over your behavioral which would make you into a mood machine. Having your drugs will become your main priority and will make you forget about your family, friends, career/job, and even your own happiness and health all the body will require is getting the high it has been use too. Now you might ask, how does a person get over this? It will be one of the hardest and challenging things they have even done but it is possible and could be done. All within time and a process needed with support groups and counselling a person could finally understand that they have become an addict and need the help to change their life. There are many ways or paths people could take in order to recover from addiction they could choose entering a rehab and getting the therapy you need. For a person recovering from an addiction it is much easier with the support of family members, close friends and therapists or counselors that they can be familiar with and allow them to help them out.

Why you need Thiamine

Thiamine better known as Vitamin B1

Who would have known that thiamine would be so important in maintaining a healthy nerves system. Some people do even know what this is? Thiamine or thiamin or better known as vitamin B1 turns foods into useable energy for the body. Thiamine helps the body maintain healthy nerves system and heart. Without having thiamine in our system the muscles would show weakness and the nerves tissues would exhibit a poor growth. People who have low thiamine in their systems often show signals of depression and a weakness in their bodies. Thiamine could be found in many founds that you could eat in a regular basis such as whole grain products, enriched wheat, brown rice, lean pork, lean meat, milk, nuts and even sea foods also carry thiamine. You could also find it in different kinds of vegetables and fruits but you have to be careful when cooking the vegetables and only cook them with very little water with the lid to preserve the vitamins. Also when rinsing pastas and rice it is said better to wait till it has been cooked. Another very important thing to avoid is the consumption of teas and coffees because they destroy this vitamin known as thiamine.

Some people are even diagnosed with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome which is a brain disorder due to thiamine deficiency. The lack of thiamine is common in people with alcoholism. Some of the symptoms due to Wernicke would be confusion and loss of mental activity which could lead to coma and even death. The loss of muscle coordination and unable to control your body properly leading to walking with a different rhythm maybe in jerking or drag of the legs. Could even cause vision change, Nystagmus, which is fast and uncontrollable movement of the eyes going from side to side to up and down. Some of the symptoms that someone with Krosakoff would show inability to form new memories, loss of memory could be very severe. Also they tend to make up stories and see and hear things that are really not there. When examining the nerves and muscular system it will show the damage that has been done to the nerves system cause by thiamine deficiency.

So now you know why thiamine is so important and why you must eat all your veg’s and fruits. This vitamin B1 is so important for the body to have so that it can function properly and at its best. Of course this will not happen overnight but for the people who are on the wrong path this is what is waiting for them. It would be a combination of poor eating habits and alcohol in a long period of time. Yes, you could have that beer you will not get diagnosed with Wernicke-Krosakoff  syndrome just make sure you stay in the right path and have you daily vitamins and exercise that the body needs in order to stay healthy

Animals in Research

What I found interesting was the study on animals and the reasons why researcher use the animals in their studies. Why do people use animals in their studies and not humans? First, they like to use the animals to find out if a test is safe and could be tested on human volunteers that would like to participate in the study. They like to use animals since they are biologically similar to the humans and the testing conducted on them could relate to humans. Also they like to use the animals since they are able to control the environment around them and the data could be more accurate. By using the animals they can develop drugs that could treat some type diseases and even find the cure others. Using the animals and testing on them is very important for researchers since the data collected could be used on humans to develop medication and further their knowledge on diseases. By using the animals in research they can also benefit from the results in ways that they could get treated from any type of disease they might have. By doing animal testing they have found vaccines and medication that could benefit other animals and save lives.

 Not all people agree to these term and refuse to use the animals in research. There are several different groups of protestors who want to ban the use of animal in research and testing. Since they believe that animal testing is wrong and should not be legal. Some even see animals as people and say that no animals should be allowed to be tested on since they cannot speak and refuse to participate in the studies, and this is where these groups will do the talking for them. They would like to minimize the testing on animals and if possible end all research that uses animals in their research. They tell research to find other methods in conducting their studies or even use machines and preform the testing on them since they are not living creatures. You will also have you extremist who will do all that is necessary to end the use of animal testing. They will destroy facilities where the testing on animals will be conducted and even vandalize homes of other researchers to have their work out and end all animal testing. They even see as having a pet dog or cat as slavery to an animals because you are holding them from their own will and are not free.  

I believe that animal testing is for the good of mankind and that in order to find treatment for diseases and cure for others it is necessary but in a controlled environment. So that the animals could not be harmed while the research is being done on them. In order for researchers to find cure and treatment for disease these studies need to be done so that they could have research to back their theories. As long as the animals are being treated with care and no further harm shall be done to them then I say the research on them should continue.