Neurological Conditions

Definitions - Neurological Conditions - F

Definitions of Neurological Conditions These definitions from Disabled World begin with the letter F.

Fabry Disease - caused by the lack of or faulty enzyme needed to metabolize lipids, fat-like substances that include oils, waxes, and fatty acids.  The enzyme is known as ceramide trihexosidase, also called alpha-galactosidase-A.  A mutation in the gene that controls this enzyme causes insufficient breakdown of lipids, which build up to harmful levels in the eyes, kidneys, autonomic nervous system, and cardiovascular system.

Fahr's Syndrome - also known as Idiopathic Basal Ganglia Calcification or Fahr’s Syndrome is a rare, genetically dominant, inherited neurological disorder characterized by abnormal deposits of calcium in areas of the brain that control movement, including the basal ganglia and the cerebral cortex. Symptoms of the disorder may include deterioration of motor function, pychosis dementia, seizures, headache, dysarthria (poorly articulated speech), spasticity (stiffness of the limbs) and spastic paralysis, eye impairments, and athetosis (involuntary, writhing movements).

Fainting - also called Syncope, is a sudden, and generally momentary, loss of consciousness, or blacking out caused by the Central Ischaemic Response, because of a lack of sufficient blood and oxygen in the brain. Factors that influence fainting are taking in too little food and fluids, low blood pressure, hypoglycemia, growth spurts, physical exercise in excess of the energy reserve of the body, emotional distress, and lack of sleep. Fainting can also occur if pressure on the carotid artery in the neck triggers a vagal signal to the Vaso-Motor Centre, reflexly causing a vagal response to slow the heart.

Familial Dysautonomia - FD, sometimes called Riley-Day syndrome is a disorder of the autonomic nervous system which affects the development and survival of sensory, sympathetic and some parasympathetic neurons in the autonomic and sensory nervous system resulting in variable symptoms including: insensitivity to pain, inability to produce tears, poor growth, and labile blood pressure (episodic hypertension and postural hypotension). There currently is no cure for FD and death occurs in 50% of affected individuals by age 30. There are only two treatment centers, one at New York University Hospital and one at the Hadassah Hospital in Israel. One is being planned for the San Francisco area.

Familial Hemangioma - or Cavernous malformation, is a rare disorder of the capillaries and smallest veins in one part of the brain. The disorder occurs when a blood-filled mass resembling a tumor, called a hemangioma, forms. Symptoms include headaches and seizures. Cavernous malformation is frequently inherited.

Familial Idiopathic Basal Ganglia Calcification - See Fahr's Syndrome above.

Familial Periodic Paralyses - are a group of inherited neurological disorders caused by mutations in genes that regulate sodium and calcium channels in nerve cells. They are characterized by episodes in which the affected muscles become slack, weak, and unable to contract. Between attacks, the affected muscles usually work as normal. Treatment of the periodic paralyses focuses on preventing further attacks and relieving acute symptoms. Avoiding carbohydrate-rich meals and strenuous exercise, and taking acetazolamide daily may prevent hypokalemic attacks.

Familial Spastic Paralysis - also known as Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), refers to a group of inherited disorders that are characterized by progressive weakness and stiffness of the legs. Though the primary feature of HSP is severe, progressive, lower extremity spasticity, in more complicated forms it can be accompanied by other neurological symptoms. These include optic neuropathy, retinopathy (diseases of the retina), dementia, ataxia (lack of muscle control), icthyosis (a skin disorder resulting in dry, rough, scaly skin), mental retardation, peripheral neuropathy, and deafness.

Farber's Disease - also known as Farber's lipogranulomatosis or ceramidase deficiency, describes a group of rare autosomal recessive disorders that cause an accumulation of lipids in the joints, tissues and central nervous system. Most children with the disease die by age 2, usually from lung disease. In one of the most severe forms of the disease, an enlarged liver and spleen (hepatosplenomegaly) can be diagnosed soon after birth.

Febrile Seizures - a convulsion in young children caused by a sudden spike in body temperature, often from an infection. During a febrile seizure, a child often loses consciousness and shakes, moving limbs on both sides of the body. Less commonly, the child becomes rigid or has twitches in only a portion of the body, such as an arm or a leg, or on the right or the left side only.

Fibromuscular Dysplasia - (FMD) is an arterial disease of unknown etiology typically affecting the medium and large arteries of young to middle-aged women. In individuals with FMD, the walls of one or more arteries undergo dysplasia. Due to this abnormal cellular development, the vessels may become stenosed. A sufficient decrease in blood flow through the artery can cause symptoms. However, FMD is often diagnosed incidentally in the absence of any signs or symptoms during an imaging study.

Fisher Syndrome - a rare, acquired nerve disease that is considered to be a variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome. It is characterized by abnormal muscle coordination, paralysis of the eye muscles, and absence of the tendon reflexes. Like Guillain-Barré syndrome, symptoms may be preceded by a viral illness.

Floppy Infant Syndrome - also known as hypotonia or infantile hypotonia, a condition of abnormally low muscle tone (the amount of tension or resistance to movement in a muscle), often involving reduced muscle strength. Hypotonia is not a specific medical disorder, but a potential manifestation of many different diseases and disorders that affect motor nerve control by the brain or muscle strength. Motor skills delay is often observed, along with hypermobile or hyperflexible joints, drooling and speech difficulties, poor reflexes, decreased strength, decreased activity tolerance, rounded shoulder posture, with leaning onto supports, and poor attention and motivation.

Foot Drop - a deficit in turning the ankle and toes upward. Conditions leading to foot drop may be neurologic, muscular or anatomic in origin, often with significant overlap. Foot drop is characterized by steppage gait. When the person with foot drop walks, the foot slaps down onto the floor. The underlying disorder must be treated. For example, if a spinal disc herniation in the low back is impinging on the nerve that goes to the leg and causing symptoms of foot drop, then the herniated disc should be treated.

Friedreich's Ataxia - an inherited disease that causes progressive damage to the nervous system resulting in symptoms ranging from gait disturbance and speech problems to heart disease. Symptoms usually begin between the ages of 5 and 15 but can, on rare occasions, appear as early as 18 months or as late as 50 years of age. The first symptom to appear is usually difficulty in walking, or gait ataxia. The ataxia gradually worsens and slowly spreads to the arms and then the trunk. Foot deformities such as clubfoot, flexion (involuntary bending) of the toes, hammer toes, or foot inversion (turning inward) may be early signs.

Frontotemporal Dementia - (frontotemporal lobar degeneration) is an umbrella term for a diverse group of rare disorders that primarily affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain — the areas generally associated with personality and behavior. It differs from other causes of dementia such as Alzheimer’s, Pick’s and Creutzfeldt Jakob’s diseases. Behavioural symptoms include apathy and aspontaneity or oppositely disinhibition. Apathetic patients may become socially withdrawn and stay in bed all day or no longer take care of themselves. Disinhibited patients can make inappropriate (sometimes sexual) comments or perform inappropriate acts.

Alphabetical list of Neurological Disorder Definitions.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - R - S - T - V - W - X - Z

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