Useful information about stroke:
Is Neurology funny?
Positive Thinking 2012: Psychology in Dubais Health Matters
15.01.2012
Think positive: With the whole year ahead of you, it is important to be in a healthy state of mind from the outset
A new year brings with it new opportunities, and a sense of a fresh start. This can be a blessing for those of us who found 2011 a bit of a slog – both physically and, more probably, mentally. After all, there have been few years in recent memory that have entailed as many potential causes of stress for people around the globe. But starting the year in the right frame of mind does not have to involve a raft of new year’s resolutions that will inevitably be broken. In fact, argues Dr Muhammad S Tahir, problems with the mind need to be appreciated for the complex and difficult phenomena that they are. “Modern day life’s stresses can impact us to varying degrees to the point it can cloud realistic thinking,” he explains.
“When under stress people think negatively and feel anxious about unnecessary worries.” This, of course, is nothing new – and in many ways it is natural. But when the January blues don’t shift, it is time to seek some professional advice, argues Tahir. “Usually, when stress is over, these negative feelings are replaced with our usual self, which has a realistic and optimistic thinking approach,” he says. “However, in certain vulnerable cases where stress is severe or prolonged with multiple negative life events this may not happen and it can lead to continuous negative thinking which can affect emotional well being, affect behavior and can lead to further deterioration in work performance.
” It follows that if one has a negative view of themselves, then they will tend to have a negative view of the world around them, and, subsequently a negative view of the future – which perhaps explains why the start of any year can be a tricky time for mental health. But there are options available to those who are feeling down, explains Tahir. For instance, there is cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). “CBT is based on this negative thinking process and helps to replace it with positive thinking and can result in the improvement in feeling, emotions and performance,” he explains. “Following exercise may be helpful in this regard. Whenever there is situation which leads to negative thinking and gives rise to the sadness or anxious emotions and leads to the automatic negative thoughts (pessimistic thoughts). If at that time our family and culture as well,” he points out. “In a sense we are joining in with their history of thoughts and actions. This brings up an important point. You can’t wait to feel differently before you do differently. This can be the thing that stops our resolutions before we hit February we expect to be motivated and feel like exercising before we actually do it. This is not how humans change. It always starts with thoughts-actions-emotions.”
In 2004 Alden trained for the 2005 New York marathon. “If it was possible to come in last I think I did. Even the man in the chicken suit beat me. Anyway, I did not like running that much but I kept at it and repeated the thought, ‘I will try for 10 minutes and then see’.” Alden believes that it was that ‘one thought / one foot after another’ technique that got him round the course. “It took me 6 hours but believe me it transformed my emotions.
I was so happy and so proud of myself.” Alden says it is important to remember that, as complex as your problems might feel, they are challenges that we all face at various points in our lives. “Don’t mystify your emotions and imagine that you, out of all 7 billion of us, are a different kind of human,” he says. “Keep it simple. Start with a balanced, realistic and at least slightly positive thought that you can turn into a small but measurable action. After a couple of these then see what your emotions are doing. “Some of us have a large bank of emotions that are not helpful towards the change we would like to make. If this is you then realize that one thought is not going to change years of the opposite thought, one action is not going to change years of even generations of inaction. Give yourself a fair chance and keep going, you like every other person on earth, will be transformed by a simple equation of thought-action-emotion.”
German Neuroscience Center
Bldg. No. 64, Block A
2nd floor, 2006
Tel: 04 4298578
www.gnc-dubai.comNeurologist in Dubai: Dr. Schumacher
07.01.2012
Dr. med F. M. Schumacher (German Facharzt)
Senior Consultant in
Neurology, German Facharzt (Neurologist),
and UK Board Certified (GMC)
Neurologist, Dr. Schumacher finished his medical studies at the Westphalian Wilhelms-University Muenster in 1987 after having done some practical time in England. From 1988 to 1995, Dr. Schumacher underwent his years of specialization which finally lead to his achieving his specialty in Neurology. During his years of training he not only dealt with the area of Neurology but also gained a lot of knowledge in Psychiatry but also Surgery and Orthopedics. In 1990 Dr. Schumacher took up his psychotherapeutic and analytic education in Heidelberg, Germany which he followed up even after finishing his Facharzt in Neurology in 1995.
During his career, Dr. Schumacher held various important positions, amongst others as Head of the Paracelsus Nordseeklinik Helgoland, Germany, Deputy Head of the Neurology Department of the SRH Zentralklinikum Suhl, Germany and Medical Director of the “Diako MVZ Niebuell”, Germany.
In 1996 he founded his own out-patient clinic in Westerland on the Island of Sylt, where he worked for 15 years as a Neurologist and due to a special agreement with the Medical Association of Schleswig-Holstein also as a Psychiatrist, seeing more than 3,000 patients per year with various severe neurological and psychiatric diseases. Dr. Schumacher furthermore worked as a Senior Consultant at the Asklepios Nordseeklinik Westerland, the DRV-Rehabilitations-Fachklinik Sylt for Children and Adolescents as well as three special care homes.
Due to the exposed island location of his out-patient practice and the long travel to the mainland, Neurologist Dr. Schumacher always took great pains to supply the most up-to-date medical support to his patients which he achieved by investing time and money in further education and equipment.
Dr. Schumacher (Neurologist) is greatly experienced in all neurophysiologic procedures such as EEG, EP, EMG, NCV, and MEP but also commands all neurological ultrasound procedures such as Doppler, Duplex as well as neuro-radiological (CT-Scan, MRI, etc.) and laboratory expertise. He also acquired knowledge in the management of deep-brain-stimulators which makes him a competent partner of the GNC’s cooperating neurosurgical Hospital Charite in Berlin. Furthermore, Dr. Schumacher served some time at a Stroke Unit, caring for victims of stroke which very much added to his knowledge about neurological rehabilitation and the possible positive outcome of either preventing stroke or catching it therapeutically in time to prevent further damage to the brain.
During his many years of training and working in Neurology and Psychiatry, Dr. Schumacher got well acquainted with diagnosing and treating a large number of neurological and psychiatric diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, other kinds of movement disorders, Epilepsy, brain tumors, peripheral nerve damages, Multiple Sclerosis and others on the one hand, as well as disturbances of the mind such as depression, psychoses, neuroses, anxiety syndromes, panic attacks or dementia on the other.
Dr. Schumacher now joins the GNC German Neuroscience Center in Dubai as a Neurologist after his many years of experience in his specialty to contribute his expertise to the already well-known spectrum of the German Neuroscience Center in Dubai. He looks forward to working as a permanent Senior Consultant in the UAE, enjoying the Dubai climate and way of life here while giving his best to help patients seeking highly qualified medical support in DHCC.
All Doctors of the GNC DUBAI: here
WHO recognizes progress of Gulf States (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) for adopting regional strategy to address noncommunicable diseases
06.01.2012
"The regional strategy details what the six countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) will be doing to tackle NCDs during the next years in terms of reducing people’s exposure to causative risk factors and improving services to prevent and treat these leading health problems," said Dr Ahmed Al Saidi, Omani Minister of Health who chaired the meeting.
read more02.01.2012: Map of Science (Neurology, Psychiatry, Psychology)
0Johan Bollen1*, Herbert Van de Sompel1, Aric Hagberg2#, Luis
Bettencourt2,3#, Ryan Chute1#, Marko A. Rodriguez2, Lyudmila Balakireva11 Digital Library Research and Prototyping Team, Research Library, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States of America, 2 Theoretical Division, Mathematical Modeling and Analysis Group, and Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States of America, 3 Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States of America
15.11.2011: Healthmatters article on Diabetic Neuropathy
01.10.2011: Unknown, Yet painful companions of Diabetes - Diabetic Polyneuropathy
A neurologist would immediately know what is wrong because in about 50% of all patients, diabetes mellitus causes several clinical neuropathic (meaning affection of the nerves) syndromes which are the reason for this pain. Neurologists are trained to look out for certain typical pain patterns and are alarmed by them. Diabetic polyneuropathy progresses insidiously over five to ten years and can occur even long before the diagnosis Diabetes is confirmed.
There are different types of neuropathy with different typical patterns of pain distribution. For instance there is the:
Symmetric type of polyneuropathy
Characterized typically by sensory loss, weakness and painful burning of toes and feet. First symptoms of the symmetric polyneuropathy may appear in the sole of one foot or even involving half a toe, then gradually spreading circumferentially up both legs to the knees, then into thighs and finally the hands. The latter pattern is also termed as “stocking-glove” distribution. Neuropathy always is length-dependent, because the longest axons are the most vulnerable. Patients describe tingling, prickling, burning, numbness and a band like pressure.
Due to sensory deficits, small cuts and wounds will not be noticed by the patients at first thus causing seemingly inexplicable infections. Later, weakness of the muscles will develop, particularly expressed by the fact that patients cannot stand on their heels. With progressing sensory disturbances spreading up also into the tips of the fingers, patients will have difficulties holding objects. Most common is a painful burning in the feet which gets worse with high temperatures. Light stimuli applied to the numb areas may be experienced as extremely painful. Also an imbalance of the gait, getting worse in the dark, is a common symptom of patients with Diabetes.
When the onset of diabetes occurs at a juvenile age of the patients, neuropathies may be first noticed as late as in their thirties to fifties but when the onset takes place at an age over 50, they tend to occur readily with adult-onset. There is a known correlation between the occurrence of neuropathy, the duration and the severity of diabetes, body weight, body size and long-standing hyperglycaemia which must be investigated individually with each patient.
Apart from the above described symmetric form of neuropathy there are other diabetes related neuropathies in different classifications:
showing focal weakness or sensory loss of single nerves, mainly in one upper arm, one thigh or the cranial nerves.
Asymmetric focal and multifocal types
of neuropathy are less common, but quite dramatic. They are usually acute in the onset with strong muscle weakness and pain in a thigh or upper arm, but this form rarely occurs before the age of 45. The affection of the cranial nerves causes weakness of the eye muscles accompanied by double images or facial numbness and nerve paralysis.
Autonomic dysfunctions
Many patients with Diabetes also develop dysfunctions of the autonomic nervous system: constipation, diarrhoea (particularly during the night,), abnormal sweating, hypertension, Tachy- and Bradycardia, dysfunction of the bladder and sexual impotence in males. Symptoms are also uncertain gait, imbalance, maybe syncope’s and blurred vision from lack of papillary regulation.
The distinction between the different kinds of neuropathy is crucial as far as the different approaches to diagnosis and management are concerned, but also regarding the prognosis.
The most essential part of the evaluation of diagnosis and therapy are – apart from an intensive neurological examination – the electro diagnostic studies of the nerves. The examination comprises Electromyography (EMG) and nerve conduction velocity (NCV). The EMG involves recording electrical potentials by an electrode placed into the muscle, both at rest and during voluntary contractions. The NCV is carried out by stimulating the motor and/or sensory nerves electrically. From the data recorded, informative characteristics of the recorded forms of waves can be determined, thus leading to a clear picture and appropriate treatment.
In the long-term, by way of Diabetes and Complications Control, trial patients who controlled their diabetes meticulously showed significantly less neuropathy. When symptoms of neuropathy occur in patients suffering from diabetes or early signs of polyneuropathic pain patterns as described above, occur, an early neurological examination is of the essence.
Dr. J. Marquardt, MD, PhD
German Senior Consultant in Neurology
GNC German Neuroscience Center, DHCC
01.05.2011: Expansion at the GNC Dubai
GNC German Neuroscience Center, DHCC
Dubais Clinic for Neurology, Psychiatry and Counselling on Dubai One
GNC, German Neuroscience Center (Neurology, Psychiatry, Psychology, Counseling in Dubai, UAE)