studying anything related to health makes you know too much of what can go wrong with you and how easily that may happen. it makes you realize how incredibly fragile our bodies and minds are. indeed, studying disorders is disturbing and worrying. it makes me paranoid. i often catch myself thinking: "what if THIS will happen to me?" and then, almost immediately, i see all the symptomps associated with the very disorder i am reading about, no matter how improbable they are. below, i am listing some of the possible disturbances your body may go through i have read about recently... i am studying this stuff for thursday's exam, so i thought: "wtf, why not share some of this?" just for the sake of underlying the contrast, to make us appreciate our healthy conditions a little bit more.
sensorineural deafness: a type of hearing loss in which the root cause lies in the vestibulocochlear nerve (cranial nerve VIII), the inner ear, or central processing centers of the brain.
muscular dystrophy: a group of hereditary muscle diseases that weaken the muscles that move the human body. muscular dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue.
myasthenia gravis: an autoimmune neuromuscular disease leading to fluctuating muscle weakness and fatiguability. it is an autoimmune disorder, in which weakness is caused by circulating antibodies that block acetylcholine receptors at the post-synaptic neuromuscular junction, inhibiting the stimulative effect of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
brown-sequard syndrome: a loss of sensation and motor function (paralysis and ataxia) that is caused by the lateral hemisection (cutting) of the spinal cord. thus, one side of your body is paralyzed and the other insensate [terrible!].
apraxia: a disorder caused by damage to specific areas of the cerebrum , characterized by loss of the ability to execute or carry out learned purposeful movements, despite having the desire and the physical ability to perform the movements. have you seen "kill bill"? "wiggle the toe!!"
ataxia: a neurological sign and symptom consisting of gross lack of coordination of muscle movements. ataxia is a non-specific clinical manifestation implying dysfunction of parts of the nervous system that coordinate movement, such as the cerebellum.
scotoma: an area of partial alteration in one's field of vision consisting in a partially diminished or entirely degenerated visual acuity which is surrounded by a field of normal - or relatively well-preserved - vision.
achromatopsia: typically refers to an autosomal recessive congenital color vision disorder, the inability to perceive color AND to achieve satisfactory visual acuity at high light levels (typically exterior daylight). imagine that there are painters who have this!!
narcolepsy: a chronic sleep disorder, or dyssomnia, characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness in which a person experiences extreme fatigue and possibly falls asleep at inappropriate times, such as while at work or at school (doesn't this apply to most of us?? :-D). narcoleptics usually experience disturbed nocturnal sleep and an abnormal daytime sleep pattern, which is often confused with insomnia. when a narcoleptic falls asleep they generally experience the REM stage of sleep within 10 minutes; whereas most people do not experience REM sleep until after 30 minutes. most people with narcolepsy tend to have a shorter life span due to the lack of energy.
cataplexy: loss of muscle tone, often triggered by a strong emotional reaction.
somnabulism: basically sleep walking; more common in children. i think i used to had that.
sleep apnea: a disorder that involves slowing or cessation of respiration during sleep, which usually wakens the person. may lead to death. (in infants it's called "sudden infant death syndrome" and occurs when an apparently healthy infant suddenly dies by simply stopping to breath during sleep. fucked up.).
turner's syndrome: encompasses several conditions, of which monosomy x (absence of an entire sex chromosome) is most common. it is a chromosomal abnormality in which all or part of one of the sex chromosomes is absent (unaffected humans have 46 chromosomes, of which two are sex chromosomes). typical females have two x chromosomes, but in turner's syndrome, one of those sex chromosomes is missing or has other abnormalities. apparently these individuals are often very skilled at learning languages.
congenital adrenal hyperplasia: refers to any of several autosomal recessive diseases resulting from mutations of genes for enzymes mediating the biochemical steps of production of cortisol from cholesterol by the adrenal glands (steroidogenesis).
androgen insensitivity syndrome: xy individuals (that is males) who are insensitive to their own testosterone and therefore don't develop male sex organs externally. they develop clitoris and look like most women, but they inside they still have testes (!!). because of insensitivity to testosterone these individuals are usually sexually interested in men and they often happily marry. theoretically though it is a same-sex marriage. doesn't it bring the debate over homosexual marriages to another level??
brr.. many of these names make you sick enough... nonetheless, currently, i am most proned to get the following one:
hypochondriasis: often referred to as health phobia or health anxiety. it is an excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness [wiki]. :-)
