schizophrenia

Do we really know what schizophrenia is? Schizophrenia begins with abnormalities

in the prenatal (before birth) or neonatal (newborn) development of the nervous system, based on either genetics or other influences. These early problems leave the developing brain vulnerable to other disturbances later in life, including but not limited to highly stressful experiences. The eventual results are mild abnormalities in brain anatomy and major disorders of behavior (Fatemi & Folsom,

2009; Weinberger, 1996). The probability was higher for children of a mother with schizophrenia,

but growing up in a dysfunctional family magnified that risk. (Based on data from Wynne et al., 2006)   From what i read in the book children can get this terrible disease due to the mother having stress from having someone die in the family or a close relative or friend. it is also said if a young child has a head injury they are susceptible to this disease. We as a society need to be more aware of the signs of this disorder and not confuse it with normal child activity. we need to get educated on the differences of this disorder and try to find a cure or detect it in its early stages so that these kids don't have to suffer the positive and negative symptoms.i know i have been calling it a disease but to me it is because there is no cure for it.

Altered sleep paterns

OK, so let me get this right.......people who have depression and if they are deprived of sleep it can cause quick relief of depression. So what about people who can't or are deprived of sleep on a daily basis? Does  that mean that we are less likely to be depressed? Altered Sleep Patterns so how does sleep and depression  go together? So if you don't get enough sleep you have a higher risk of suffering from depression. but in our book it says that sleep deprivation can relieve depression. I was already begining to think that i would never get depressed because i never get my full 8 hrs of sleep and now I'm reading that i have a higher risk of becoming depressed! This is scary.....so do you think all the sleep that we students, parents and athletes and full-time job holders are being deprived is worth it? By looking at the videos do you think its only a matter of time that we will become depressed sooner or later because the lack of sleep. Personally i don't believe it's true.....there are people in my family that i know that have never got a full 8 hrs sleep and they have never been better. I think it just depends on the person and how you adjust to your way of living.

What is stress?

Have you ever asked yourself what is stress?  Stress is the nonspecific response of the body to any demand upon it. And then you say ah what? We are exposed to stress everyday  one example is  as college students that are married and have a full time job it is very stressful because we cannot concentrate on just one thing at a time such as school work or just on your full time job.  Because there are other important factors that we have to deal with and it is very stressful trying to complete all of the tasks that one takes on. By having all these stressors in our body it causes us to become ill and even depressed because we have no time for ourselves to heal of whatever wounds or sicknesses that we may have. People who say they never have stress are simply not telling the truth we all have stress. Have you ever lost your appetite or didn’t feel like doing anything? That is a symptom of one having stress there are different symptoms for different people depending on ones’ situation. In my life as a college student it has been a long and hard road but It will finally end soon (at least for a while). But I have had more stress than others because I have to deal with school work my full and part-time jobs and last but not least my family which I try to spend the most time and enjoy my little boys. They are the ones who help me deal with all the stress that I have but in the long run it will all be worth it. I strongly believe that hard work always pays off even with stress.

Testosterone

Women have you ever thought why your significant other has cheated on you? Have you ever wondered if men go through life changes such as menopause as women do?  To answer the last question is yes, and it’s called Andropause. Testosterone is said to cause men to have multiple sex partners and yes to have Andropause. In our book (M. McIntyre et al., 2006; van Anders, Hamilton, & Watson, 2007) claim that men with high testosterone levels that are married or have a long term relationship are more likely to have more sexual partners than that of  men who has low levels and is in the same age range. In a study it was determine that Testosterone levels did not drop after marriage or a long term relationship. It said that because men who are married or in a long term relationship do not have to work as hard to have a sex partner they’re levels drop. But the study didn’t reveal what happens first. Testosterone is a natural hormone that men produce in early puberty and declines through years, it diminishes pain and anxiety. 

Somatosensory Receptors

Have you ever wondered why women have the better touch sensitivity? It is said that because they have smaller hands than men ( not all cases) Women who have same size hands have the same amount of sensitivity as a man .The Somatosensory Receptors can be touch receptors that open the sodium channels to began action potential. for example the Pacinian corpuscles (pain) are receptors that respond best to sudden displacement of the skin or to high-frequency vibrations. the outer structure provides a mechanical support to the neuron inside it so that a sudden stimulus can bend it but a sustained stimulus cannot. have you ever asked yourself why can't we tickle are selves? because the brain uses that touch with an expected touch. when you tickle someone most of the time is when they are not looking......correct because they are not expecting it because if they are it will cause more pain then a  tickling (funny) sensation.

Korsakoff syndrome

Korsakoff’sSyndrome also known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome it is due to prolonged thiamine deficiency in the brain. This mostly occurs in people who are chronic alcohol abusers. Because they do not take the adequate amount of vitamins and don’t have a healthy diet. Because the brain needs vitamin B1 and doesn’t receive it this causes the loss or shrinkage of the neurons throughout the brain.  A distinctive symptom of this disease is Confabulation is when patients with Korskoff’s fill in the gaps of their memories with guesses.  This tendency may reflect the patient’s attempt to maintain pleasant emotions. People with korsakoff’s learn word sentences better than a person who doesn’t have it because they remember their confabulation instead of the correct answer.

Epilepsy

About seven years ago I was working for a water supply corp. when I was “diagnosed” with epilepsy. While I was at this current employer my duties were to read, connect, disconnect and activate new water meters. All this was in out in the natural environment it did not matter the weather conditions. Well in one of the hottest day of the summer I was doing my duties when I suddenly felt sluggish and my hand began to shake ( like Tom Hanks in the movie Saving Private Ryan) I got scared because it had never happened to me. So I called my supervisor and told him I was feeling weird and had to take the rest of the day. I then headed to my family Dr. they ran some tests and told me that I was having epilepsy attacks. I began to panic and did not know what to do as the Dr. was informing me about this disease I was not paying attention to all he was saying. All I could think about was a childhood friend that I had he could not play ant sports because when his body temperature would get to a certain degree he would have these attacks and would be taken to the hospital.  After I was recommend to a specialist they told me that I had to stay one night so that they could run some tests on my brain to see what kind of activity was going on there. They monitored my brain all night to see if I did have epilepsy needless to say my family Dr. had misdiagnosed me and I had just been out in the sun to long causing similar symptoms of that of epilepsy.