Facts of Encephalopathy-Definition, Types, Symptoms, and Treatment

What does Encephalopathy mean?

It is a disease that hampers our brain. It changes your brain’s working way or a change in your body that impacts your brain. All such changes leave you confused and cause an altered mental state where you don’t act normally. It is a group of disorders that is caused due to several reasons. It isn’t a single disease. It is considered a serious health issue that can damage your brain either temporarily or permanently if left without proper treatment.

Due to the similarity in words, you can confuse this word with encephalitis, but in reality, both are different health conditions. Encephalitis refers to the inflammation or swelling of the brain. On the other hand, encephalopathy is considered a mental state that is caused due to different types of health issues. It can be caused by encephalitis too.

Types of encephalopathy

Reverse and irreversible both are the main types of this brain disorder.

The causes of Reversible encephalopathy are-

• Hepatic encephalopathy

-it happens to patients with chronic liver disease

• Hashimoto’s

– linked to Hashimoto’s disease, which is a thyroid condition

• Metabolic

– happens due to health conditions like kidney failure, diabetes, heart and liver disease

• Brain tumors
• Nonconvulsive status epilepticus
• Encephalitis, meningitis, or other infections of the brain as well as in the urinary tract
• Exposure to toxins like drugs, radiation, industrial chemicals, paints, solvents, and industrial chemicals

The causes of Irreversible encephalopathy are-

• Hypoxic-ischemic

– caused after cardiac arrest, drug overdose, carbon monoxide poisoning, and when sufficient oxygen doesn’t reach your brain

• Chronic traumatic

– caused due to repeated head injuries that damage the brain, especially in high impact sports like boxing and football

Symptoms 

The cause and type of encephalopathy determine the symptoms. But some common symptoms are-

• Loss of memory
• Change in personality
• Facing trouble in focusing or thinking clearly
• Confusion
• Tremors
• Sleepiness
• Muscle weakness
• Uncontrollable eye movements

Diagnose

The doctor suggests the below tests for a proper diagnosis for this disorder-

• Urine and blood test
• EEG test to check the electrical activity in the brain
• Nutritional supplements
• Imaging scans like MRI (magneton resonance imaging) and CT (computed tomography)
• Spinal fluid tests
• Changing your food habits
• Asking to stop a medication
• Medicine to reduce levels of ammonia
• Dialysis and transplant of any organ if problems in liver or kidney are causing the issue

The tests are conducted so that the doctors know three main things

1. Whether a person has encephalopathy
2. What is the underlying cause behind it
3. Type of encephalopathy the person has

How to prevent this disease? 

It is always not preventable. However, one can reduce their risk by having a well-balanced and healthy diet, reducing consumption of alcohol, and avoiding exposure to harmful chemicals.

Complications 

Complications in encephalopathy may cause unconsciousness or even coma. In serious and rare cases, it has also caused permanent damage to the brain or death of the patient. In such conditions, the doctor helps the patient to recover by putting him on life support.

Outlook towards encephalopathy

It has a broader range of conditions that hampers the functionality of our brain and leads to brain diseases and damages. Often it is treatable, and patients have fully recovered with proper treatment. The doctor helps to reverse the impaired function of the brain. But certain forms of encephalopathy are life-threatening. For example, infectious encephalopathy is caused due to a rare disease called prion disease, which causes loss of life.