Organic Mental Disorder

Organic mental disorder, which is also referred to as organic brain syndrome, can be described as a set of different conditions which alter the proper functioning of the brain due to a variety of causes. The different organic mental disorder causes include metabolic irregularities, aging, cardiovascular disorders, regenerative diseases, drug abuse, etc. In organic mental disorder, a temporary or permanent dysfunction of the brain is caused. Specific causes of this medical problem determine their associated symptoms. The symptoms of organic mental disorder that are commonly observed include the following: confusion, dementia, impaired memory, agitation, impaired judgment & logic, etc. Some of these are transient organic mental disorders (i.e., they affect the patient for a temporary period). The organic mental disorder definition and related facts presented above provide us with an overview of this health problem. Let us obtain more details through following paragraphs.

What is Organic Mental Disorder?

Organic mental disorder is not just a psychological, but also a physical disorder that affects the functioning of brain. The normal working of the brain is, therefore, altered. Functional mental disorder is a bit different in nature. The important difference between organic and functional mental disorder is that the latter is caused by the malfunctioning of the mind. There is no damage caused to the brain in functional mental disorder. Some of the examples of organic mental disorder are given below.

Emerging Infectious Diseases

As the name suggests, an emerging infectious disease is indeed one that follows an upward rising curve on the most contacted infections lately graph. However, there are a few more other specifications that differentiate emerging infectious diseases from the generically prevailing ones. Foremost among these specs is the time factor. A disease is recognized as an emerging one if its incidence has seen a spurt in the last 20 years, and is extrapolated to continue to increase in frequency and intensity in the near future. Besides time, a lot of other factors also determine whether or not a particular disease qualifies as an emerging infectious disease. Let's first take a look at these other determining factors, before going on to casting a glance at the various infectious diseases that are included within the scope of emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases.

Various Determining Factors

Besides the time period during which a spurt is seen in the incidence of a particular infection, other factors that determine whether or not an infectious disease qualifies to be touted as emerging, include the following:

    Pathogen Status - An infectious disease may be deemed as emerging if the microbial pathogen was previously unknown (meaning a new species/genus altogether), a newly discovered strain of an existing pathogen, an existing and known pathogen causing a new kind of disease owing to an evolutionary leap in its genetic architecture, re-emergence of a known infection owing to development of resistance to traditional methods of treatment, etc.

Thyroid Disorders and Fertility

Thyroid is an important gland of the body and is located at the base of the neck near the windpipe. It secretes two important hormones, namely thyroxine or T4 and triiodothyronine or T3, which are involved with various metabolic processes that are vital to the body. Any thyroid disorder prevents normal functioning of the thyroid gland. This leads to several health complications. It primarily affects hormonal based bodily functions. A woman's reproductive system often gets disturbed because of thyroid disorder and it becomes difficult for her to conceive. Let's understand the relation between thyroid disorders and fertility issues that crop up due to an affected thyroid gland.

Effects of Thyroid Disorders on Fertility
When it comes to female infertility, there are numerous causes attached to it. Those which are more commonly associated with it are blockage or damage to the fallopian tube, endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), etc. Many times, it is ignored but it is a fact that thyroid problems have an adverse impact on a woman's fertility. This is because thyroid problems in women tend to interfere with the menstrual cycle. Moreover, the balance between the two reproductive hormones, estrogen and progesterone, gets disrupted.

Parasomnia Treatment

Before we proceed towards discussing parasomnia treatment, let us first understand the complete implications of this term. The term parasomnia includes within its scope a number of different symptoms, that together comprise a group of eight sleep disorders which are classified under two separate categories - REM (Rapid Eye Movement stage of sleep) parasomnias and NREM (Non Rapid Eye Movement stage of sleep) parasomnias. A parasomnia disorder is symptomized by a set of unusual movements, actions, dream patterns and perceptions, just before falling asleep, while sleeping, or just before waking up. Also, these symptoms can occur anywhere between the sleep stages themselves such as between REM and NREM, between N1 and N2 or N2 and N3 or between N3 and SWS (Slow Wave Sleep, which is the last stage just before arousal from sleep).

Parasomnia Symptoms

Let's take a more detailed look at the various symptoms and occurrences/events that take place between falling asleep and waking up, to better understand what the treatment of this disorder is aimed at and how it works. As mentioned above, there are eight different indications and events that comprise the entire scope of parasomnia. These include REM sleep behavior disorder (which is characterized by the subject indulging in physical action in accordance with vivid dreams while in the REM stage of sleep such as holding on to the bed or trashing around), Recurrent Isolated Sleep Paralysis (which is characterized by feeling awake in one's dreams and finding oneself unable to move for a few moments after a perceived arousal from sleep), Catathrenia (characterized by holding one's breath during sleep and emitting a groan while breathing out), Somnambulism (sleepwalking), night terrors, Bruxism (grinding one's teeth while in deep sleep), and Restless Legs Syndrome and Confusional arousals (characterized by random waking spells accompanied by violent thrashings or inconsolable sobbing and weeping, especially in case of parasomnia in children).