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Brain Diseases: Types, Symptoms, and Early Detection

Sarah Main
Brain Disease

Your brain is made up of many specialized areas that work together. Hundreds of different diseases can affect how well it functions.

What Are Brain Diseases?

Your brain is a highly specialized organ that contains as many as 86billion nerve cells. It can process information as fast as 350 miles per hour. But many conditions, including infections, injuries, stroke, seizures, and tumors, can affect the health of your brain and how it works. Here’s an overview of the symptoms to look out for.

Brain Diseases: Infections

Sometimes, germs can get inside your brain and infect its tissue. Brain diseases caused by infections include:

Meningitis This condition can be caused by a virus, such as mumps, or a bacteria that enters your brain through your bloodstream. A parasite or type of fungi could also be responsible. Meningitis inflames the lining around your brain or spinal cord. Neck stiffness, headache, fever, and confusion are common symptoms.

Encephalitis Mosquitos and ticks can both spread viruses that cause this type of brain inflammation, although there are many other causes as well. Early encephalitis symptoms include fever, muscle soreness, joint aches, fatigue, and a headache, but some people may also feel confused or show changes in their personality.

If meningitis and encephalitis happen at the same time, you have a condition called meningoencephalitis.

Brain abscess. It’s possible to get a pocket of infection inside your brain tissue. If so, you may need emergency surgery to carefully drain pus from the area. Otherwise, it can prevent enough blood from flowing to your brain or cause the area to swell. Signs of a brain abscess include weakness on one side of your body, trouble moving or speaking, vision changes, stiffness in your neck or back, as well as headaches.

Brain Diseases: Seizures

Your brain cells communicate with each other through tiny, rapid-fire bursts of electricity. If something interferes with this process, you can have what’s called a seizure. 

The most common brain disease that causes seizures is epilepsy . About 1.2% of people in the U.S. have this condition. Epilepsy sometimes runs in families, but brain infections, strokes, and head injuries can cause it as well.

If you have epilepsy, you could have a wide range of symptoms. Some are subtle, such as staring off into space. Others are severe, such as uncontrollable, jerking movements or losing consciousness (passing out). They can put you at risk of hurting yourself or others.

Epilepsy treatment such as medications, surgery, use of medical devices, and even diet recommendations may be able to help you become seizure-free.

Brain Diseases: Trauma

Head trauma is another way of saying that you’ve had a severe injury to your head. It includes these conditions:

Concussion. This type of brain injury is like a bruise on your brain. It can cause a short-term change in how your brain functions. You don’t need to be playing sports and get hit in the head to get a concussion, although that is a common cause. You can also get one from being in a car accident or fall.

Sometimes, concussion symptoms start right away. But they could also show up days later.

Most people who have a concussion have a bad headache. Other signs include:

A baby or small child with a concussion might:

If your child hits their head, it’s important to call your doctor right away.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI). A concussion is one type of TBI. But your brain can also be injured because of other reasons — for instance by a bullet or an explosion. A mild TBI often causes short-term symptoms. More severe TBIs may result in long-term or permanent brain damage. TBI symptoms can include:

it’s always wise to see a doctor after a head injury. They may do tests to better understand your condition and how to treat it.

Brain Diseases: Tumors, Masses, and Increased Pressure

This kind of brain disorder includes:

Brain tumor. Whether malignant (cancerous) or benign (not cancerous), any abnormal tissue growth can cause issues because of the pressure it puts on your healthy brain tissue.

Glioblastoma: A cancerous brain tumor; glioblastomas grow quickly and can be a challenge to cure.

Generally speaking, the signs of a brain tumor often include:

Hydrocephalus. Your brain relies on a small amount of cerebrospinal (brain) fluid to provide nutrients and help flush out waste. If it stops flowing properly, your brain will start to feel the pressure. The symptoms you have will depend on your age. For instance, you might see a bulging spot on top of a baby’s head or their head may get bigger. If you’re 60 or older, you may start to have issues with your balance and memory.

Normal pressure hydrocephalus. Sometimes, an increase of fluid happens so slowly that the pressure in your head stays normal at first. But over time, your brain tissue can be compressed. As a result, you may have issues with everyday functions, such as walking.

Pseudotumor cerebri (false brain tumor). Pressure can also increase inside your skull for no clear cause. (Although this is more likely to happen if you have a weight higher than what your doctor recommends.) Vision changes, headaches, dizziness, and nausea are common symptoms. In some cases, a false brain tumor could also result in vision loss.

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Brain Diseases: Vascular (Blood Vessels) Conditions

Blood provides oxygen to your brain and helps flush out waste. If the vessels and arteries that provide this blood stop working well, issues can quickly arise.

Brain diseases that are connected with blood vessel conditions include:

Stroke. If blood flow and oxygen suddenly can’t reach an area of your brain, the cells there can quickly become damaged. The body part (like an arm or leg) that’s controlled by that brain area may no longer function properly. Strokes can cause symptoms such as:

There are two types of strokes.

Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) is another name for stroke.

Transient ischemic attack (TIA). Sometimes, a blood clot or fatty deposit can reduce or interrupt blood flow to your brain for a short time. Some people call a TIA a “ministroke.” The symptoms are similar to those of a stroke, but they often resolve completely (usually within 24 hours) without damage to your brain tissue.

Brain aneurysm. Sometimes, an artery in your brain can develop a weak area that swells like a balloon. A brain aneurysm rupture causes a stroke, due to bleeding.

Subdural hematoma. This condition can happen after an injury, such as a blow to your head. Bleeding on the surface of your brain starts to put pressure on your brain tissue. Besides stroke-like symptoms, you might also have memory loss or personality changes. If a baby has a subdural hematoma, their head will often swell.

Epidural hematoma. Bleeding can happen between your skull and the tough lining (dura) of your brain. If so, it’s typically from an artery, usually shortly after a head injury. At first, your symptoms may be mild but can quickly progress and may even be fatal, if untreated. This condition is also referred to as an extradural hematoma.

Intracerebral hemorrhage. This term describes bleeding anywhere in your brain tissue. 

Cerebral edema. This means that your brain tissue is swollen. That can be due to different causes, including a virus, infection, altitude sickness, brain cancer, or stroke. Aside from stroke-like symptoms, you could also experience:

If you notice any stroke-like symptoms, you must get medical help right away. The sooner that you get treatment, the better chance you have of making a recovery.

Brain Diseases: Autoimmune Conditions

Your immune system is supposed to protect you from germs that can make you sick. But sometimes, it can start to attack you instead.

Autoimmune diseases of the brain include:

Central nervous system (CNS) vasculitis. Blood vessels anywhere in your body can become inflamed and swollen for several reasons. If the blood vessels in your brain or spine are affected, you have CNS vasculitis. It can cause symptoms such as:

Multiple sclerosis (MS). If you have this brain disorder, your immune system is mistakenly attacking myelin, the outer covering that protects your nerve cells. This makes it hard for your brain and the rest of your body to properly “talk” to each other. MS symptoms vary from one person to another but can include:

Brain Diseases: Neurodegenerative Conditions

Some conditions that damage your brain and nervous system get worse over time. These are called neurodegenerative disorders and include:

Parkinson’s disease. Nerves in a central area of your brain slowly start to break down, which can cause issues with your movement and coordination. Early signs are a tremor (shaking) in your hands, stiff limbs and torso, slowness of movement, and unstable posture.

Huntington’s disease. This inherited nerve disorder damages your brain cells. Dementia and difficulty controlling movements (chorea) are some of its symptoms. Early signs include mood swings, depression, and being easily irritated.

Pick’s disease (frontotemporal dementia). If you have this brain disorder, large areas of nerves at the front and sides of your brain are destroyed over time due to the buildup of an abnormal protein. Personality changes, acting inappropriately, trouble speaking, loss of memory, and having a hard time thinking can all be symptoms. Pick’s disease is steadily progressive, meaning that symptoms become more severe the longer that you have it.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, this condition destroys the nerves which control your muscle function. ALS steadily progresses to paralysis (not being able to move) and an inability to breathe on your own. Cognitive function (how well you can learn or problem-solve) is generally not affected.

Dementia. This isn’t a disease but a group of symptoms that affect how you think and remember. Your symptoms will depend on the type of dementia you have but can include:

Alzheimer’s disease. This is the most common cause of dementia in older people. A buildup of abnormal tissue in brain areas — often called tangles and plaques — is believed to contribute to the disease. Not being able to remember recent events or talks with others is often an early sign.

Takeaways

Many different diseases can damage your brain and interfere with how well you move, speak, and think. Early diagnosis is often key to both your treatment and outlook. See your doctor if you notice any symptoms that concern you.

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