The most characteristic signs and symptoms experienced by patients with cerebellar degeneration include:
muscle weakness
an uncoordinated, staggering walk
quivering of the torso
jerky arm and leg movements
tendency to falling over
dysarthria (difficulty in articulating speech)
dysphagia (difficulty in deglutition/swallowing of solids and liquids)
vertigo (dizziness)
nystagmus (rapid, involuntary eye movements), causing sleep disturbances
ophthalmoplegia (paralysis of extraocular muscles)
diplopia (double vision)Scientific studies have revealed that psychiatric symptoms are also common in patients with cerebellar degeneration, where dementia is a typical psychiatric disorder resulting from cerebellar damage. Approximately 50% of all patients experience dementia as a result of paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration. Causes
The root cause of incurring a cerebellar degenerative condition can be due to a range of different inherited or acquired (non-genetic and non-inherited) conditions, including neurological diseases, paraneoplastic disorders, nutritional deficiency, and chronic heavy alcohol use. Neurological diseases
A neurological disease refers to any ailment of the central nervous system, including abnormalities of the brain, spinal cord and other connecting nerve fibres. Where millions of people are affected by neurological diseases on a worldwide scale, it has been identified that the number of different types of neurological diseases exceeds six hundred, any of which an individual can incur. Some of the most prevalent types include Alzheimers disease, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, Parkinsons disease and stroke. More specifically, the neurological diseases that can cause cerebellar degeneration include:

Inherited
Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA), which refers to a group of conditions caused by mutations in the genes of a human, and are characterised by degenerative changes to many parts of the central nervous system, inclusive of the cerebellum, brain stem, and spinal cord.
Nutritional and alcoholic cerebellar degeneration, being more prevalent than paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration, affects individuals with a thiamine deficiency and dipsomaniacs, respectively. Recent epidemiological studies on cerebellar degeneration estimated a global prevalence rate of 26 per 100,000 cases of cerebellar degeneration in children. References


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