Quora Answer

Is depression caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters or just correlated with the imbalance?

Dr. Michael Lovich Answered May 7, 2020 No, neurotransmitter quantity have little to do with most clinical presentations. Levels of neurotransmitters in any urinary neurotransmitter test holds little to no value at all, please don’t waste your money on these. Depression happens with trans-neuronal degeneration (TND) in areas of the brain as subsequent anaerobic respiration following …

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How soon can the symptoms of a concussion appear, and how long can they be delayed?

Dr. Michael Lovich Answered February 27, 2020 Concussion symptoms occur from the dysfunction in the neural circuits within the brain, brainstem, and cerebellum, and with their connections to the body. The primary insult to the brain during concussion and the physiological changes occur during the time of impact (if a traumatic brain injury). However, symptoms, which …

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What does it mean to down-regulate? Why does the brain down-regulate dopamine?

Dr. Michael Lovich Answered January 26, 2019 Think of receptors as a button on the outside of a cell that a signal molecule touches to initiate a system of messengers within the cell to accomplish various functions. The human body is a receptor based organism. This means that each time a receptor is activated, a subsequent …

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If you were wearing a football helmet and someone threw a football as hard as they could and it hit your head, could you get a concussion?

Dr. Michael Lovich Answered December 12, 2017 It’s a common misconception that football helmets prevent concussion. The protective shell prevents cranial injuries, like skull fracture. Concussion happens when there is stretching and shear stress in the axons of nerves, typically in central structures like the midbrain, coupled with an inflammatory response from the brain’s microglial cells. …

If you were wearing a football helmet and someone threw a football as hard as they could and it hit your head, could you get a concussion? Read More »

What does a mild concussion feel like? What is the difference between a mild concussion vs just hitting your head and having a headache?

Dr. Michael Lovich Answered August 29, 2017 From the perspective of hitting your head, without neurological implications, you can cause a lesion to the scalp, or a sensitization of the pain pathways localized to where your head was hit. Adding in neurology now… Think of concussion and TBI on a continuum, like this! Simple -> ComplexSub-concussive …

What does a mild concussion feel like? What is the difference between a mild concussion vs just hitting your head and having a headache? Read More »