Neuroimmune disease

Neuroimmune disease (disorder, syndrome, or condition) is an umbrella term for a group of certain diseases involving dysfunction of both the immune system and the nervous system. It is not an official classification of disease, but it used to refer to neurological diseases which are also recognized as immune or autoimmune diseases.

Neuroimmune disorders
Disorders Commonly Found In Adults:
 * Systemic lupus erythematosus
 * Multiple Sclerosis
 * Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Motor Neuron Disease)
 * Guillain-Barré syndrome
 * Myasthenia gravis
 * Neuromyelitis optica (NMO)

Potential neuroimmune disorders
These disorders have considerable evidence of a neuroimmune disease process, but are not widely accepted as neuroimmune conditions. (The neuroimmune system is a system of structures and processes involving the biochemical and electrophysiological interactions between the nervous system and immune system which protect neurons from pathogens.)

Two neuroimmune research units, one in Queensland, Australia and one in Florida, US, focus prominently on research into ME/CFS and multiple sclerosis.
 * Myalgic encephalomyelitis and Chronic fatigue syndrome
 * Gulf War Illness

Emerging politics in understanding neuroimmune disease
Psychotic Mental Illnesses - a research unit out of Manitoba, Canada lead by Abrams Hoffer for over 50 years of cutting edge research in pathogens affecting behavior in various addictions and mental health. His teams conclusion on schizophrenia as of when he passed away, was that neurons of schizophrenic patients were harmed by a pathogen called adrenochrome. In clinical trials adrenochrome is proven to cause majority of the acute symptoms experienced by schizophrenics. The petition to autopsy cadavers of schizophrenics to find if adrenochrome at present is subject to lack of interest or publication. Niacin has been shown to attenuate neuroinflammation and may have efficacy in treating neuroimmune disorders. Using niacin to partially treat schizophrenia as a neuroimmune disease is a highly political topic. Schizophrenia is not classified a neuroimmune disorder even though pathogens are the most likely culprit making this more politically charged. A doctor will agree schizophrenia is an unknown chemical imbalance but is reluctant to agree neuroimmunity and pathogens are the next likely step to understand the illness. In closing the team by Abrams Hoffer claimed to have a cure for many illnesses but it would require 200 tonnes of niacin per year just to treat schizophrenics worldwide. Due to the complexity of the nutrient it may not be practical to produce enough vitamin for large scale worldwide use.

The current treatment for schizophrenia is a form of lobotomy using advanced chemical reactions from tranquillizers. To be clear that is a destruction of the prefrontal cortex and a reduction in the size of the brain by as much as 25% using pharmaceuticals. The journal of psychitary verified that when treated with antipsycotics, monkeys lost 10% of their brain grey and white matter in under 3 years. Normal scans of schizophrenics will often reveal significant deterioration to the prefrontal cortex and brain shrinkage congruent to the scarce but available studies of the brain damage caused by antipsychotic. This is signficantly more humane than the methods of physical lobotomy prior to the 60's. Antipsycotics, tranquillizers, and pharmacuticals are used interchangably as a significantly more successful method of lobotomy in perspective of this article.

Written by a schizophrenic academic

Immune symptoms in ME/CFS
ME/CFS is classified as a neurological disorder by the World Health Organization, and the Canadian Consensus Criteria recognizes a range of immune symptoms, which are used in diagnosis. The more commonly used Fukuda criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome does not require any immune symptoms for diagnosis, but both swollen lymph nodes and frequent sore throat are diagnostic symptoms.

Learn more

 * Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine
 * National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases
 * Neuroimmune Syndromes (NeuroSensory Centers of America)
 * Immune system diseases - National Institute of Health