Neurological diseases in children: causes, symptoms, treatment

Causes of neurological diseases in children

The development of neurological diseases in children under one year of age is usually associated with the peculiarities of the intrauterine development process. Experts name the most common reasons:

• the child receiving a mechanical injury to the spine or brain during childbirth;
• oxygen starvation (hypoxia) of the fetus, which occurs for various reasons, for example, due to repeated entanglement of the umbilical cord around the neck;
• the complex process of childbirth and labor, which leads to infection of the birth canal, an increase in the anhydrous gap, the development of inflammatory complications, bleeding during or after childbirth;
• acute toxicosis of pregnant women throughout the entire period;
• genetic inheritance.

As for children over 1 year old, the root of neurological pathologies should be looked for in:

• low immunity and persistent infectious diseases of the child;
• frequent stress, depression;
• misuse of certain medications, such as antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids;
• excessive stress on the body – physical and mental;
• being in constant fear and depression caused by the behavior of parents and peers at home, in kindergarten, school, clubs and sections;
• excessive emotionality of the child;
• unfavorable environmental conditions;
• diseases of the brain, internal organs, injuries.

Whatever the causes of neurological diseases in children, it is important to promptly detect disorders and begin treatment. The sooner this happens, the less likely it is to develop serious complications and the better the prognosis for recovery.

Obsessive neuroses

In most cases, the problem of obsessive-compulsive neurosis and tics is solved by play psychotherapy or a course of medical treatment, and most often by a combination of drug treatment and psychological work with suppressed nervous tension in the child.

Obsessive neuroses in children manifest themselves in the form of obsessive movements and thoughts. Obsessive states (obsessions) manifest themselves as irresistible and involuntarily arising thoughts, fears, and, as a result, obsessive movements.

Intrusive thoughts

• when a child fears for the health and safety of himself and his family
• constantly thinks or imagines that something bad might happen to them
• always remembers negative events that happened to him or his family in the past

Typical obsessive mental actions

• reading license plates, signs, operations with numbers and letters from license plates and signs
• counting lamp posts, houses, lawn fences, etc.
• constant search for “favorite” and “unfavorite” letters and numbers

Obsessive movements and actions.

The scope of their manifestations is very extensive. This could be a nervous tic in a child, or obsessive movements. The most typical obsessive movements and actions in children:

• biting nails and lips
• hair pulling
• thumb sucking, sucking or biting a pencil, pen, button, edge of clothing
• coughing, grunting, or making noises
• twitching of limbs
• blinking and/or stereotypic eye movements
• circling
• tapping, clapping
• rocking
• squatting, limping when walking
• rubbing the body or objects
• shaking and shaking hands and objects
• jumping and skipping for no reason
• muscle contractions of the arms and legs, as well as the face.

Typical complex ritual actions

• Children can walk on certain floor tiles
• walk around, twist, stroke the object a certain number of times
• jump up and clap your hands, pronounce phrases, etc.

Also, neuroses can have a different course:

• episodic
• chronic
• progressive

Neurosis in a child can have different causes

. The most common is the presence of any mental trauma in the child, as well as the presence of emotional factors. Such as: a tense and conflictual situation in the family, incorrect and too harsh and authoritarian upbringing of children.

Often this list also includes physiological reasons: heredity and genetics, previous diseases, physical overload of the child, lack of sleep.

One way or another, all this is due to the fact that the child has increased arousal in certain areas of the brain. Basically we are talking about dysfunction of the subcortical nuclei of the brain, which are responsible for posture and facial expressions, muscle tone and global motor acts. The child is forced to somehow relieve this excitement. Thus, this discharge occurs precisely through actions.

These may be: tics (the child twitches or jerks with some part of the body), fast stereotypical movements, there may be obsessive postures, obsessive movements; the child may sit down, jump, make some sounds, pronounce words or even swear words (with Tourette syndrome). Very often such manifestations are not taken seriously in the initial stages.

Tourette's syndrome is a genetically determined condition associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder and tics, or stereotypical tic-like movements.

Also, neurosis-like obsessive states are largely provoked by chronic streptococcal infection with an increase in antistreptolysin O (ASLO) in chronic tonsillitis, the so-called PANDAS syndrome, ongoing neuroinflammation with an increase in markers such as NSE and S100 protein. We also often see such manifestations in children who are carriers of neuroinfections, that is, infections that have a toxic effect on the nervous system.

EEG (electroencephalography) for children at the Echinacea clinic

We advise you to contact a child neurologist, child psychiatrist and allergist-immunologist. For convenience and coordination of assistance to the child, we practice a consultation of all three specialists. Thanks to this, the appointments are more informative, and the effect of the prescribed therapy occurs faster.

Obsessive neurosis responds well to treatment in the early stages, especially in preschool age.

As for Tourette's syndrome, even if there is a genetic predisposition, this syndrome can become silent. After all, until the debut of Tourette syndrome, the child lives with the same genetic makeup, but there are no tics or vocalisms. This is not only a matter of genetic predisposition to Tourette's syndrome, but also related problems and the current state of the child's health. Working with provoking factors (obsessive-compulsive disorder, infections, concomitant inflammatory diseases, sleep disturbances, high levels of anxiety, etc.) usually leads to gradual improvement, often until the complete cessation of tics and vocalisms.

We widely practice play therapy for the treatment of obsessive neuroses in children

Symptoms of neurological diseases in children

The first signs of neurological disorders can be noticed in a child at a very early age. You should consult a doctor for help if you experience the following symptoms:

• twitching of the chin and arms at rest;
• throwing your head back while crying;
• lack of reaction to bright light and the sound of a rattle;
• inability to hold a rattle 30 days after birth;
• inability to hold the head 30 days after birth;
• excessive salivation after feeding;
• hyperexcitability (frequent crying) or passive behavior (does not cry at all);
• increased anxiety, sleep disturbances (difficulty falling asleep, sleeping more than 20 hours a day);
• frequent regurgitation in a fountain;
• the occurrence of seizures with a slight increase in temperature;
• hypertonicity (constant tension) of the leg muscles, arching of the body or tilting of the head to the side, which makes it difficult to change the child’s clothes;
• difficulty swallowing food;
• temporary loss of consciousness;
• A 3-month-old baby does not imitate the speech of adults;
• sunken fontanelle;
• the child does not want to sleep on his stomach;
• When leaning on his legs, the child bends his fingers.

As for an older child, the symptoms of neurological diseases in children will be somewhat different:

• forgetfulness, absent-mindedness;
• fainting;
• urinary incontinence;
• delayed speech development;
• excessive nervousness;
• panic attacks;
• the child has difficulty making contact with other children;
• insomnia;
• poor appetite;
• constant despondency and melancholy attitude towards life;
• constant headache.

If parents detect even some of these signs, it is necessary to urgently consult a specialist.

How to distinguish intercostal neuralgia from heart disease?

If neuralgia has acute symptoms in the thoracic region on the left side, differential diagnosis with heart disease must be carried out. You should not look for the cause of the pain syndrome on your own. Thoracalgia on the left side should always be a reason to consult a doctor.

Heart pain and symptoms of intercostal neuralgia on the left have distinctive features:

Symptoms of intercostal neuralgia on the left and right should also be differentiated from other diseases (pleurisy, pneumonia, thoracic aortic aneurysm, pericarditis, acute pancreatitis and others). If there is severe pain in the chest, only a doctor can determine exactly what it is - neuralgia or another pathology.

List of neurological diseases in children

The list of neurological diseases in children is quite impressive, so we will limit ourselves to listing the most common ones.

• Epilepsy. The disease manifests itself by sudden, recurring convulsive attacks.
• Cerebral palsy . The disease is characterized by limited motor capabilities of the child, difficulties in maintaining an upright posture and walking. Often accompanied by reduced intelligence, delayed speech development and epilepsy.
• Neurosis (psychoneurosis, neurotic disorder) . This name unites a group of reversible disorders, which are characterized by obsessive, asthenic or hysterical manifestations, weakening of both mental and physical performance.
• Hyperactivity . The disease manifests itself in the child’s excessive energy and mobility, impaired attention and sleep, lack of appetite, anxiety and some bad habits, for example, the habit of biting nails.
• Asthenic syndrome . Often occurs as a consequence of traumatic brain injury. It manifests itself as rapid fatigue, irritability, isolation and self-doubt, or a complete loss of the ability to perform physical activity for a long time.

Treatment of neurological diseases in children

Treatment of neurological disorders in children includes taking medications that restore the functioning of the nervous system, physical and psychological correction. The child may be prescribed courses of therapeutic massage, special physical education, and exercises in water. Physiotherapeutic methods are often used - stimulation with a high-intensity magnetic field or electric current, laser therapy, ultraphonophoresis of enzyme preparations, electrophoresis and others.

What treatment the doctor will prescribe depends on the child’s age, concomitant diseases, the totality of all the features of the development of neurological pathology from beginning to end, as well as on the effectiveness of correction at the previous stage.

In the city of Penza, you can be examined by a pediatric neurologist and receive qualified assistance at the medical ]"Stoletnik"[/anchor], located at the address: st. Chaadaeva, 95 on the first floor of a five-story residential building. On Wednesdays from 9.00 to 12.00 and on Fridays from 13.00 to 15.00, consultations are conducted by a doctor of the highest qualification category.

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Chin tremor in a newborn: the child's chin trembles

In most cases, these symptoms disappear completely with timely diagnosis and treatment, especially if treatment is started in the first six months of the child’s life.

When a newborn baby's chin trembles, this almost always indicates increased stimulation of the nervous system. If the chin trembles frequently or constantly, it means that excitation in the child’s central nervous system significantly dominates inhibition. And this, in turn, may indicate a history of brain damage: intrauterine infection, intrauterine and/or birth hypoxia, birth trauma, increased intracranial pressure, etc. In this case, the child’s chin shakes while crying or spontaneously. Other neurological symptoms may also appear. An increase in muscle tone is often observed; the baby does not form the correct reflexes inherent in newborns: proboscis reflex, palmar-mental, palmo-oral, support reflexes. There may also be other neurological signs indicating that the nervous system has been damaged in some way. In more serious cases, early development may be impaired.

Where to start and who to contact? If a child often experiences chin trembling, first of all, he should get an in-person consultation with a pediatric neurologist. The doctor will examine the baby and, if necessary, prescribe an ultrasound of the brain and ultrasound of the cerebral vessels to look at the situation with intracranial pressure and cerebral circulation. If epilepsy is suspected, encephalography (EEG) is advisable. As a rule, the most relevant age for research and determination of the causes of this problem is up to six months, since most of the consequences of intrauterine and birth damage to the nervous system are well restored during the first 6-12 months of life (the so-called “therapeutic window”). It is at this moment that every effort should be made to ensure that the damaged functions are fully restored and continue their development as normal.

Literature:

1. Belyaeva I. A., Bombardirova E. P., Tokovaya E. I., Kharitonova N. A., Lazurenko S. B., Turti T. V., Illarionova M. S. Non-drug habilitation of children with perinatal lesions of the nervous system / / Issues of modern pediatrics. – 2021. – No. 16 (5). – pp. 383–391.
2. Bombardirova E. P., Yatsyk G. V., Stepanov A. A. Treatment and rehabilitation of perinatal lesions of the nervous system in children in the first months of life // Attending physician. – 2005. – 2. – P.67–69.
3. Petrukhin A. S., Pylaeva O. A. Current problems of pediatric neurology // General Medicine. – 2005. – No. 2. – P. 3–11.

Osteopathic treatments

Osteopathic treatment of central nervous system lesions in newborns is aimed at eliminating anatomical dysfunctions in the newborn’s body, restoring normal biomechanical relationships of all bones and joints, as well as soft tissues damaged during traumatic birth. Examples of techniques that are included in the osteopathic course of treatment for newborns:

• Fascial decompression of the sacrum, sacrolumbar joints.
• Removal of blocks at the level of the articulation of the first cervical vertebra and the skull.
• Balancing the tone of the thoracoabdominal diaphragm.
• Release (normalization of muscle tone) of the upper aperture of the chest, collarbones, shoulder blades, first rib.
• Decompression of sphenobasilar synchondrosis.
• Balancing the mutual tension membranes of the cranial cavity and spinal cord.
• Elimination of intraosseous damage to the occipital, temporal, and sphenoid bones resulting from injuries during childbirth.
• Correction of blood outflow and cerebrospinal fluid circulation in the cranial cavity.
• Balancing and balancing techniques.

The goal of treatment is to ensure that there are no tensions, blocks, or dysfunctions in the newborn’s body, so that it functions as an ideally tuned biomechanical system. The entire future life of the baby and diseases that may appear due to missed birth injuries depend on this.