Neurodegenerative Disorders
Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a disorder that damages the nervous system. AD usually starts slowly and gets progressively worse over time. AD accounts for nearly 60-70% of all cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty remembering recent events, which is called short-term memory loss. As the disease worsens, symptoms include affecting language, easily disoriented, mood swings, loss of motivation, inability to manage self-care, and changes in behavior or personality.
Dementia
Dementia is a disease that results in memory loss and confusion. Dementia can also slow down mental skills that can affect a person’s normal daily life. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia.
Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is a disease where the immune system attacks its own healthy tissue. This usually damages the protective covering around the nerve cells in the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. This damage will diminish the brain’s ability to communicate with the rest of the body. Some of the common symptoms are tingling, pins and needles or numbness, muscle weakness and spasms, increased reflexes, difficulty moving, poor balance, problems with speech or swallowing, visual problems, low energy, and pain, among others.
Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is a disorder of the nervous system that mainly affects how a person moves and eventually affects a person’s ability to think and interact with others. Parkinson’s disease commonly occurs when there is degeneration to an area in the brain that allows your body movement. Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease involve unwanted movements such as tremors, stiffness, slowness of movement and thought, digestion issues, poor balance, and difficulty walking. As Parkinson’s disease progresses, thinking and emotional symptoms may arise, with dementia commonly occurring in the advanced stages of the disease.
Memory Care
Cognitive challenges stem from a person’s level of cognitive function, which is the mental process of understanding knowledge through thoughts, experiences, and senses. Cognitive challenges, such as forgetfulness, inability to focus, and brain fog are commonly linked to normal aging. If a person can keep their brain working at a high level, it will decrease the probability of developing these cognitive challenges. The key is to limit the factors of life that damage cognitive function, like trauma, chemical stress, and emotional stress, and increase the brain’s function through specific brain exercises or therapy. At Optimal You Wellness Center, we address each of these causes by combining neuroplasticity and functional medicine.