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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests

Learn More

• Specifics
• Genetics

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Research

• Statistics and Research
• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Reference Desk
• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Patient Handouts

Summary

The brain, spinal cord, and nerves make up the nervous system. Together they control all the workings of the body. When something goes wrong with a part of your nervous system, you can have trouble moving, speaking, swallowing, breathing, or learning. You can also have problems with your memory, senses, or mood.

There are more than 600 neurologic diseases. Major types include:

• Diseases caused by faulty genes, such as Huntington's disease and muscular dystrophy
• Problems with the way the nervous system develops, such as spina bifida
• Degenerative diseases, where nerve cells are damaged or die, such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease
• Diseases of the blood vessels that supply the brain, such as stroke
• Injuries to the spinal cord and brain
• Seizure disorders, such as epilepsy
• Cancer, such as brain tumors
• infections, such as meningitis

Start Here

• What Does the Nervous System Do? (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Neurological Exam (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Spinal Tap (Lumbar Puncture) (Nemours Foundation)

Specifics

• Acute Flaccid Myelitis: MedlinePlus Health Topic (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Arachnoid Cysts (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) Also in Spanish
• Mingling Senses: Synesthesia Explained (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish
• Pseudobulbar Affect (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Genetics

• Alternating hemiplegia of childhood (National Library of Medicine)
• Sjögren-Larsson syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Spastic paraplegia type 5A: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)

Statistics and Research

• Trouble With Touch? Feeling Your World (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Nervous System Diseases (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Exploring the causal relationships between type 2 diabetes and neurological disorders...
• Article: Integrating early life stress in neurological disease: advancing preventive neurology.
• Article: Targeting Neurological Disorders with Stilbenes: Bridging the Preclinical-Clinical Gap.
• Neurologic Diseases -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• Brain & Life: The Magazine (American Academy of Neurology) Also in Spanish
• Neurotoxicity (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)
• Paresthesia (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) Also in Spanish
• What Are the Parts of the Nervous System? (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish

Find an Expert

• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Also in Spanish

Children

• Electroencephalogram (EEG) (Nemours Foundation)
• Flu and Children with Neurologic Conditions (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Neurocutaneous Syndromes (Nemours Foundation)
• What Is a Pediatric Neurosurgeon? (American Academy of Pediatrics) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) collection (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• EEG (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish