Parkinsons Disease: The Basics
What is Parkinsons disease? Parkinsons disease is a neurologic condition that results when dopamine-producing cells in the substantia nigra, located at the top of the brainstem, stop producing sufficient levels of dopamine, which is essential for normal movements.
Why does the loss of these cells cause so many symptoms? Dopamine neurons account for less than 1 percent of the neurons in the brain. The largest cluster, located at the top of the brainstem, has been estimated to number no more than 400,000. However, individual dopamine neurons have as many as 500,000 connections with other neurons, endowing them with enormous influence over our movements, our motivations, and even our emotions.
How common is PD? PD affects about 1 percent of people older than 60 years of age. It affects more men than women. In early-onset PD, symptoms appear between the age of 50. Some reports suggest that 10 percent of all PD cases are early-onset.
What are the symptoms? PD causes trembling in the hands, arms, legs, jaw, and face, along with rigidity of muscles in the arms, legs, and trunk. People with PD also move slowly and sometimes freeze entirely for a few seconds. They also have trouble with their balance and coordination.
How is PD diagnosed? Currently there are no laboratory tests to detect PD in the earliest stages. Once motor problems begin, the diagnosis is based primarily on an exam by a neurologist, although brain scans and other tests may be ordered to support the diagnosis.
Other Mental Health Problems Linked To Parkinson’s
Some mental health issues are side effects of Parkinson’s treatments, like hallucinations, paranoia, and delusions.
A hallucination happens when you think something is present when it isn’t. For example, you may hear a voice but no one is there. An example of paranoia is when you think someone is following you when they are not. A delusion is when you are convinced something is true, despite clear evidence that proves it’s not.
How Does Your Head Feel With Parkinsons
Brain fog is a condition described as the inability to have a sharp memory or to lack a sharp focus. In short order, you just really feel like youre not yourself and youre unable to think clearly.
Sandra Hearth is the creator and writer behind “Wellbeing Port”, a blog dedicated to promoting healthy living and personal wellness. Born and raised in the bustling city of New York, Sandra has always been drawn to the idea of living a balanced and fulfilling life. As a certified health coach and yoga instructor, Sandra has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the fields of health and wellness. She started her blog as a way to share her passion for healthy living with others and to provide practical tips and advice for those looking to improve their overall wellbeing. Overall, Sandra Hearth is a knowledgeable and passionate advocate for healthy living, and her blog “Wellbeing Port” is a valuable resource for those looking to improve their health and wellbeing.
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Treatment: Current Status And Future Possibilities
Although it is clear that gait performance in people with PD can be influenced by mood , the extent to which pharmacological and physical therapies for these non-motor symptoms improves walking remains unclear. Emotional disorders are under-researched in PD . Moreover, the effects of antidepressants and anxiolytic therapies on gait disturbances in PD remains open to question. Recent PD trials showed that although walking ability was impaired
Interplay Between Cognition Emotion And Gait
Although human gait was historically viewed as an automatic task , it is now clear that emotion and cognition contribute to the motor control of gait in health and disease , , , , , , , , , , , , , ]. The contribution of these non-motor functions to locomotion is particularly evident in complex walking situations . For example, considerable research indicates that, compared to normal conditions, dual tasking alters gait ,
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How To Cope With Parkinsons Disease At Home
You may wish to make practical arrangements to help you feel more in control of your disease. Here are some tips for coping with Parkinsons disease at home.
- Improve your sleep health: Make sure your bedroom is set up for sleep. Remove technology devices and other stimulants and try to make your bed a calm sanctuary where you can get the rest you need.
- Keep a medication chart: You may have to take several different medications at a time, so keeping a chart will help you stay organized.
- Ask for help: Find someone you can call on for help when you need it, such as a friendly neighbor, family member or friend.
- Remove hazards: As your Parkinsons progresses, you may find it difficult to move around freely. You may also experience frozen or shuffling gait, which can catch you off-guard. Make sure to remove trip hazards and fall risks from the home to minimize the chance of injury and ease your anxiety.
As difficult as it may seem, many people find ways to live successful and happy lives with Parkinsons disease. It may take a while to find the right medication to control your symptoms, and it might not be the whole answer. However, there will be a route through this, and you can find new ways to make your life enjoyable and meaningful
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What Family Caregivers Can Do
Having a strong network of family members and friends who provide physical and emotional support could prevent your loved one from becoming overwhelmed, and it can even slow the progression of Parkinsons. You should also promote healthy eating and regular exercise. The foods seniors eat can impact the way they feel and behave. Yoga, swimming, and various physical activities can alleviate many of the symptoms associated with Parkinsons and reduce negative emotions.
Parkinsons disease can be particularly difficult to manage, and both seniors and family caregivers can easily get overwhelmed. Caring for a senior loved one can be challenging for families who dont have expertise or professional training in home care, but this challenge doesnt have to be faced alone. Family caregivers can turn to Edmonton Home Care Assistance for the help they need. We provide high-quality live-in and respite care as well as comprehensive Alzheimers, dementia, stroke, and Parkinsons care. If you need professional home care for your loved one, reach out to one of our Care Managers today at 490-7337.
Beyond The Substantia Nigra
In Parkinsons, other areas of the brain beyond the substantia nigra are involved as the condition progresses. Changes in higher brain areas are linked to non-motor symptoms that can affect people with Parkinsons later on in the condition, and often have a significant impact on quality of life.
For instance, symptoms that affect memory and thinking can be linked to the presence of Lewy bodies in the largest area of the brain the cerebral cortexas well as the limbic system. The limbic system is also believed to be involved in symptoms involving mood and pain, and similar changes in the inferior temporal gyrus, an area of the brain involved in processing what we see, are thought to be the reason for hallucinations.
But research into the spread of Parkinsons through these areas, and how we can stop it , is just one side of the story. There is also ongoing research into where Parkinsons starts, and the effects it is having before it reaches these areas.
The presence of non-motor symptoms many months and maybe even years before the physical symptoms, such as tremor and slowness of movement, points towards the presence of other changes in the body long before the loss of dopamine-producing cells in the substantia nigra. These early symptoms could even help researchers predict those who will go on to be diagnosed with Parkinsons, which would help in the development of new and better treatments.
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Can Masked Face Be Treated
There are no specific medications for treating masked face. However, treatments for Parkinsons disease can help reduce masked face, as well as other symptoms of this condition.
Some medications used to treat Parkinsons disease focus on increasing dopamine activity in the brain. Some examples of these medications include carbidopa and levodopa.
Levodopa is one of the main medications used to treat Parkinsons. It is a natural chemical that converts to dopamine in the brain. It is often paired with carbidopa, which helps levodopa work more efficiency and prevents certain side effects like nausea and vomiting.
Together, carbidopa-levodopa can be given as an:
- oral medication
- infusion that is administered through a feeding tube directly into the small intestine
Other medications for rigidity, as well as facial exercises and physical therapy, may also be recommended to treat masked face.
Participating in activities that you love or feel passionate about may help improve your facial expressions. This includes creative pursuits, such as singing, dancing, or watching movies and plays.
Mimicking Human Conditions In Animal Models
With the advance of the medical research, it is possible to mimic certain human conditions in selected animals, such as mouse or rat, to study the development of a disease and search for treatment. In addition to being very close to the human physiology, these animal models are reliable and critical to develop new treatment strategy and to understand the pathophysiology of a disease.
In the laboratory of Professor Musa V. Mabandla, we have by exposing pups to early maternal separation once daily, from post-natal day 1 to 14. We thereafter injected these rat models with depressive-like behaviors with a preclinical dose of 6-hydroxydopamine stereotaxically into the medial forebrain bundle to mimic Parkinsonism. This has resulted to a rat model of PD associated with depressive-like behaviors.
We also injected these animal models with Fluvoxamine maleate , an antidepressant widely used for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, to investigate the neuroprotective effects of the drug on a parkinsonian rat model of neurodegeneration.
Our findings show that early maternal separation exacerbated the effects of 6-hydroxydopamine, but FM treatment attenuated neurodegeneration associated with 6-hydroxydopamine toxicity.
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What Are The Signs Of Depression
Depression can sometimes make your Parkinsons symptoms worse. Get in touch with your doctor if you notice any of these things happening to you for longer than 2 weeks at a time.
- You have a depressed mood.
- You cant find pleasure in things that you once enjoyed.
- You have trouble getting to sleep or you sleep too much.
- Your appetite changes.
- You have thoughts of death.
How Does Parkinson’s Disease Affect Social Aspects Of Communication
Over the lifespan, human health and well-being hinges on the ability to communicate effectively with others and to maintain social relationships. While most take these skills for granted, the ability to function successfully in social situations is highly complex and depends on the preservation of different mental abilities, such as the ability to infer the emotions of others, to determine their perspectives and intentions, and to appropriately use this knowledge to guide behaviour and interpersonal communication.
In adults with Parkinsons disease, degeneration of the brain leads to progressive difficulties that affect movement, but also specific mental abilities that are critical for social functioning.
The goal of this research is to specify how changes in mental functioning in individuals with Parkinsons disease impact on their ability to process emotions and to make social inferences . At the same time, our research will document the impact of Parkinson disease on interpersonal communication from the perspective of listeners naïve to the patients disease status.
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What Causes Parkinsons Disease
The most prominent signs and symptoms of Parkinsons disease occur when nerve cells in the basal ganglia, an area of the brain that controls movement, become impaired and/or die. Normally, these nerve cells, or neurons, produce an important brain chemical known as dopamine. When the neurons die or become impaired, they produce less dopamine, which causes the movement problems associated with the disease. Scientists still do not know what causes the neurons to die.
People with Parkinsons disease also lose the nerve endings that produce norepinephrine, the main chemical messenger of the sympathetic nervous system, which controls many functions of the body, such as heart rate and blood pressure. The loss of norepinephrine might help explain some of the non-movement features of Parkinsons, such as fatigue, irregular blood pressure, decreased movement of food through the digestive tract, and sudden drop in blood pressure when a person stands up from a sitting or lying position.
Many brain cells of people with Parkinsons disease contain Lewy bodies, unusual clumps of the protein alpha-synuclein. Scientists are trying to better understand the normal and abnormal functions of alpha-synuclein and its relationship to genetic mutations that impact Parkinsons andLewy body dementia.
Parasympathetic Nervous System And Your Heart
There are a number of special receptors for the PSNS in your heart called muscarinic receptors. These receptors inhibit sympathetic nervous system action. This means theyre responsible for helping you maintain your resting heart rate. For most people, the resting heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute.
On the other hand, the sympathetic nervous system increases heart rate. A faster heart rate pumps more oxygen-rich blood to the brain and lungs. This can give you the energy to run from an attacker or heighten your senses in another scary situation.
According to an article in the journal Circulation from the American Heart Association, a persons resting heart rate can be one indicator of how well a persons PSNS, specifically the vagus nerve, is working. This is usually only the case when a person doesnt take medications that affect heart rate, like beta-blockers, or have medical conditions affecting the heart.
For example, heart failure reduces the response of the parasympathetic nervous system. The results can be an increased heart rate, which is the bodys way of trying to improve the amount of blood it pumps through the body.
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How Does Parkinsons Affect The Mind
As aforementioned, Parkinsons can heavily impact the physical well-being of an individual that is experiencing serious complications and symptoms of the disease. However, just as an individual starts to feel the physical impacts on their body, their mental state and well-being may start to feel compromised as well. If an individual that has been faithfully running 5 miles a day starts to lose balance due to complications of Parkinsons Disease, he or she will likely start to feel depressed, anxious and sad over their inability to carry out their daily tasks.
As a seniors Parkinsons Disease starts to worsen over time, family members may start to see a shift in their overall mood and mental state. Not only can Parkinsons literally take an individuals ability to think clearly, but he or she may start to feel things that they had never felt before such as depression or anxiety. This can be one of many mental complications from this debilitation disease. Parkinsons can cause an individual to feel unmotivated to carry out everyday tasks or to put effort into improving their quality of life, as they may feel their life is declining anyways. It is important to recognize the signs of depression and mental health issues in seniors and know when it is time to step in and help them. Mental and emotional issues may start to heavily impact people with Parkinsons, as it may take away their drive and willingness to work towards a healthier and happier lifestyle.
Moving From Denial To Acceptance
When theyre first diagnosed, seniors often go through a mental process thats very similar to what people experience with grief and loss. In the beginning, your loved one may try to avoid talking about the condition or outright refuse to even speak to the doctor. Try to be gentle during this time, but be aware you may also have to put your foot down when it comes to your loved ones safety. Over time, most seniors accept their diagnosis and become more willing to plan for their own care.
Your loved one may get a great deal of benefit from a professional caregiver, who can provide companionship as well as help with everyday tasks. Families looking for top-rated homecareproviderscan reach out to Home Care Assistance. From respite care to specialized Alzheimers, dementia, stroke, and Parkinsons care, there are many ways we can make life easier for seniors and their loved ones.
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Emotion And Parkinsons Disease
Emotional symptoms are a major source of disability in people living with PD . Amongst the affective disturbances, depression is the most common in PD, with an estimated prevalence of around 35%, and a mixture of affective phenotypes . It can sometimes manifest prior to the onset of motor symptoms .
Anxiety can be also a problem in PD, with a prevalence of about 31%, approximately double that of the general population . Anxiety can exacerbate motor symptoms and may
Kathy: On Anxiety Going It Alone And Being Kind To Yourself
Anxiety is also the biggest mental health challenge for Kathy , a 72 year old woman with PD diagnosed 4 years ago. Her mental health concerns are deeply influenced by a major external stressor, namely an adult child who is facing an illness of her own. Kathy was always a very active and capable person, and remains so, but PD is starting to cause some physical limitations for her. She wants to help her daughter as much as she can, but has begun to realize that she cant do everything she used to be able to do. This is extremely frustrating, because not only must she accept her limitations, but others around her must do so as well.
She often feels very lonely. She is not married and finds herself shouldering her own physical and mental struggles, as well as those of her daughter, by herself. She is lucky to have some close friends, but they have health challenges of their own to deal with and cant always be there for her. She finds it mildly exasperating to constantly read how important it is for PD patients to surround themselves with supportive family what if you are alone?
She also finds it irritating to read articles about PD that are relentlessly perky about PD. Yes, exercise can be very helpful and can sometimes help keep symptoms at bay. But there is a down-side to PD as well. You should be allowed to feel that and express that. It is also not your fault if your PD worsens it does not mean that you did not do enough.
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