Posted: September 2nd, 2022

Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder characterized by difficulties in body movement. Like other neurological disorders like ataxia and Tourette syndrome, Parkinson’s reduces the patient’s ability to move or stay still. In the United States, approximately half a million people are living with the disease, and 50,000 more are diagnosed each year.
Symptoms
The four main motor problems include tremors or shaking of the limbs when at rest, slowed movements, stiffness of the limbs, and loss of balance, causing frequent falls. Other symptoms in the advanced stages may include anxiety, hallucinations, sleep problems, increased melanoma, muffled speech, reduced concentration, psychosis, and memory loss.
Parkinson’s disease is progressive, meaning that the symptoms develop gradually and get worse over time. In the initial stage, the symptoms may come out as very slight tremors in the hands and limbs and a feeling of stiffness in one side of the body. Other signs that can be experienced during the early phase include constipation, decreased sense of smell(anosmia), changes in posture, a blank facial expression, and slight changes in handwriting.
With time, the symptoms begin to worsen and become more apparent. Tremor, rigidity, and problems with movement become conspicuous. While still fully independent, basic tasks become more difficult and lengthier to execute. As the disease progresses, a person begins to experience loss of balance and movement becomes more difficult. Falls become more frequent, and daily tasks like eating and dressing also become extremely hard.
In the later stages, symptoms become more severe and limiting. A person might be able to stand without help, but movement may require a walker. In the final stage, body stiffness makes it impossible to stand, walk, talk, or write. Individuals in this stage are fully dependent and need to be moved around in a wheelchair.
Causes
The condition is caused by loss of function of nerve cells in the part of the brain called substantia nigra. Nerve cells in this region produce dopamine, a chemical in the brain that acts as a messenger between the nerves and cells that coordinate body movements. When these nerves get damaged, the amount of dopamine released is significantly reduced, which causes slow and abnormal body movements. However, researchers and scientists still do not know what causes the nerve cells to die. Multiple studies suggest that the condition is mostly genetic.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Unfortunately, there is no known cure for Parkinson’s disease. Treatments options include medicines, surgical options, and multiple forms of therapies that focus on relieving symptoms. An early diagnosis improves the effectiveness of treatment. However, most people often mistake the initial symptoms as normal signs of aging and rarely seek medical intervention. Doctors also have a hard time diagnosing Parkinson’s disease during the early stages because other conditions like stroke, encephalitis, dementia, multiple system atrophy, and corticobasal degeneration may have similar symptoms.
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Nalls, M. A., Blauwendraat, C., Vallerga, C. L., Heilbron, K., Bandres-Ciga, S., Chang, D., ... & Bras, J. (2019). Identification of novel risk loci, causal insights, and heritable risk for Parkinson's disease: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies. The Lancet Neurology, 18(12), 1091-1102.
Tysnes, O. B., & Storstein, A. (2017). Epidemiology of Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Neural Transmission, 124(8), 901-905.