How Do I Prevent Falls From Common Hazards
- Floors: Remove all loose wires, cords, and throw rugs. Minimize clutter. Make sure rugs are anchored and smooth. Keep furniture in its usual place.
- Bathroom: Install grab bars and non-skid tape in the tub or shower. Use non-skid bath mats on the floor or install wall-to-wall carpeting.
- Lighting: Make sure halls, stairways, and entrances are well-lit. Install a night light in your bathroom or hallway and staircase. Turn lights on if you get up in the middle of the night. Make sure lamps or light switches are within reach of the bed if you have to get up during the night.
- Kitchen: Install non-skid rubber mats near the sink and stove. Clean spills immediately.
- Stairs: Make sure treads, rails, and rugs are secure. Install a rail on both sides of the stairs. If stairs are a threat, it might be helpful to arrange most of your activities on the lower level to reduce the number of times you must climb the stairs.
- Entrances and doorways: Install metal handles on the walls adjacent to the doorknobs of all doors to make it more secure as you travel through the doorway.
Long Term Care Insurance
The Basics
A long term care insurance policy will begin paying for care according to the terms of the policy. This can vary by contract:
- In some cases, occasional help at home to assist with activities of daily living can trigger payments.
- It may require a more moderate level of need, such as the need for regular in-home care.
- It may require meeting a higher standard based on inability, similar to Social Securitys threshold.
- Or perhaps a higher level must be established, such as medical certification of the need for nursing home care.
Shopping for long term care insurance policies
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How Is Parkinsons Disease Treated
There is no cure for Parkinsons disease. However, medications and other treatments can help relieve some of your symptoms. Exercise can help your Parkinsons symptoms significantly. In addition, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language therapy can help with walking and balance problems, eating and swallowing challenges and speech problems. Surgery is an option for some patients.
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Drugs To Treat Parkinsons Disease
Study conducted by medical researchers have compared two drugs named Levodopa and Pramipexole, which is employed generally as the first treatment line associated with the parkinsons disease problem. These drugs use various mechanisms to counteract with declining in the dopamine production in human brain, which is a result of progressive cell loss to secrete neuro chemicals in human brain. Levodopa is a type of amino acid, which human body metabolizes to form dopamine. On the other side, Pramipexole is a type of dopamine agonist, which binds with dopamine receptors present on cells in human brain and mimics the molecular function associated with the chemical.
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Financial Considerations With Parkinsons Disease
There are a number of financial implications to consider when an individual is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Financial needs related to Parkinson’s disease may include:
- Prescription medications
- Veterans benefits
- Other public programs
Medicare is the main source of health care coverage for most individuals 65 and older. Other common sources of payment include private pay, employer pension plans, and personal savings.
Regardless of the age of the individual with Parkinson’s disease, all healthcare plans meeting these needs should be kept active. It is sometimes possible to supplement an individuals Medicare coverage with Medigap insurance which covers certain gaps in Medicare coverage such as paying for co-insurance or other items.
A long-term care insurance policy usually needs to be in place before a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis occurs in order for long-term care to be covered for the disease. After a Parkinsons disease diagnosis, the policy should be reviewed to determine:
- Eligibility of the person diagnosed
- When the covered individual is able to start collecting benefits
- Date the daily benefit begins
- Whether the benefit is adjusted annually for inflation
- Length of time the benefits will be paid
- Whether there is a maximum lifetime payout
- Type of care covered by the policy
- Whether there is an elimination period before the coverage begins
- Any tax implications of the policy
In addition, Medicaid will pay for hospice care in most states.
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Is Early Diagnosis Possible
Experts are becoming more aware of symptoms of Parkinsons that precede physical manifestations. Clues to the disease that sometimes show up before motor symptoms and before a formal diagnosis are called prodromal symptoms. These include the loss of sense of smell, a sleep disturbance called REM behavior disorder, ongoing constipation thats not otherwise explained and mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression.
Research into these and other early symptoms holds promise for even more sensitive testing and diagnosis.
For example, biomarker research is trying to answer the question of who gets Parkinsons disease. Researchers hope that once doctors can predict that a person with very early symptoms will eventually get Parkinsons disease, those patients can be appropriately treated. At the very least, these advances could greatly delay progression.
Parkinsons Disease and Movement Disorders Center
Our center provides compassionate and timely treatment to patients with movement disorders, such as dystonia, ataxia, essential tremor and similar conditions. But our mission goes beyond patient care excellence. By offering educational events and support groups, we empower patients and caregivers to become better partners in their health.
How Do Symptoms Progress
The most common symptoms of Parkinsons are tremor, rigidity and slowness of movement.
Not everyone with Parkinsons experiences the same combination of symptoms they vary from person to person.
Also, how Parkinsons affects someone can change from day to day, and even from hour to hour. Symptoms that may be noticeable one day may not be a problem the next.
Many of the symptoms can be treated or managed with medication and therapies.
Many people with Parkinsons lead active and fulfilling lives. An important part of coping with Parkinsons is understanding how it affects you and how to work around it.
It may not always be easy to maintain a positive outlook, especially immediately after diagnosis. But we can give you help and support.
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Environmental Factors And Exposures
Exposure to pesticides and a history of head injury have each been linked with PD, but the risks are modest. Never drinking caffeinated beverages is also associated with small increases in risk of developing PD.
Low concentrations of urate in the blood is associated with an increased risk of PD.
Drug-induced parkinsonism
Different medical drugs have been implicated in cases of parkinsonism. Drug-induced parkinsonism is normally reversible by stopping the offending agent. Drugs include:
Gba Mutations And Variants Causing Pd
It has been noted for many years that there is an increased frequency of parkinsonism among patients with GD , and that there is an increased frequency of typical parkinsonism among healthy heterozygous mutation carriers of GBA gene mutations . GD is a lysosomal storage disorder and results from the deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase, GCase, localized to lysosomes. It is an autosomal-recessive disorder caused by mutations in the human -glucocerebrosidase gene, GBA. Low GCase levels lead to the accumulation of its major substrate, glucosylceramide, GL-1, localized in lysosomes. In GD, large amounts of GL-1 accumulate in many cell types, including macrophages and neurons, which may lead to white matter accumulation, cell death and neurodegeneration .
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Mercer Island Md Explains Long
Recently published medical research has found a statistically significant link between influenza infection and the long-term development of Parkinsons disease. Mercer Island MD Gordon Cohen joined Seattles Morning News to discuss why those findings clarify the health benefits of vaccines beyond their immediate use for disease prevention.
What people havent really spent much time thinking about are the long-term effects of actually having the disease, Dr. Cohen told KIRO Radios Dave Ross. We know that with having an infection, we often see it as transient. It comes, it goes, and then we dont have to worry about it ever again.
The researchers found that a flu infection was linked to a subsequent diagnosis of Parkinsons disease more than 10 years later, he continued. The odds of developing Parkinsons disease were elevated by approximately 90% at 15 years, and 70% at 10 years after an infection with the flu.
Now, the study itself is not definitive by any means, and the lead investigator acknowledges that, but it really does suggest that there are potential long-term consequences from having the flu, Cohen said.
The study was conducted with analysis of Danish medical records over the period between 2000 and 2016. Researchers identified 10,271 people who had been diagnosed with Parkinsons disease over that timeframe, from which the correlation between influenza and Parkinsons disease was found.
Idiopathic Basal Ganglia Calcification
This is a heterogenous disease associated with mineral deposition in the basal ganglia, as well as in other brain structures. There is a strong familial component, with causative mutations identified in SCL20A2 and PDGFRB. Patients commonly have a movement disorder, with parkinsonian features of akinesia and rigidity which show a variable response to levodopa. Other features include cognitive impairment, gait disorder, pyramidal signs, and a psychiatric presentation. Imaging is crucial in diagnosis to identify the areas of calcification, with CT imaging being more useful than MRI .
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Legal Considerations With Parkinsons Disease
In addition to addressing financial needs, it is also important to address legal concerns. Similar to financial planning, starting the legal planning process early allows the individual with Parkinson’s disease to be involved and express their wishes for future care and decisions. This reduces the need for guesswork by families and allows for the person with Parkinson’s disease to designate future decision makers on their behalf.
Early Parkinsons disease planning also provides time to work through the complexities of legal issues that are involved in long-term care. Legal planning should include:
- Making plans for both health care and long-term care
- Making plans for finances and property
- Designating a person to make decisions on behalf of the individual with Parkinson’s disease
To prepare most legal documents, an individual must have the legal capacity to do so. Legal capacity means that an individual is capable of having legal documents prepared and making decisions about what to include in these documents.
A lawyer will be able to help an individual and their family determine if a person has the legal capacity to participate in the preparation of legal documents. For this reason, it is important that a person and their family begin preparing any legal documents they wish to have as soon as possible while the individual can still participate in this process.
Some common legal documents to consider preparing include:
- Power of attorney
- Guardianship/conservatorship
What Doctors Look For When Diagnosing Parkinsons
Certain physical signs and symptoms noticed by the patient or his or her loved ones are usually what prompt a person to see the doctor. These are the symptoms most often noticed by patients or their families:
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Shaking or tremor: Called resting tremor, a trembling of a hand or foot that happens when the patient is at rest and typically stops when he or she is active or moving
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Bradykinesia: Slowness of movement in the limbs, face, walking or overall body
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Rigidity: Stiffness in the arms, legs or trunk
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Posture instability: Trouble with balance and possible falls
Once the patient is at the doctors office, the physician:
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Takes a medical history and does a physical examination.
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Asks about current and past medications. Some medications may cause symptoms that mimic Parkinsons disease.
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Performs a neurological examination, testing agility, muscle tone, gait and balance.
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Frontotemporal Dementia With Parkinsonism
Parkinsonism in frontotemporal dementia is usually seen in the behavioral variant, rather than in association with primary progressive aphasia, and can develop either before or during the development of the classical FTD syndrome. It can closely mimic idiopathic PD or have features suggestive of PSP or CBS. It is seen in association with underlying tau, TDP-43, or FUS pathology, as well as corresponding mutations in several genes, which include MAPT, PGRN, C9ORF72, FUS, and TARDBP. Rigidity and bradykinesia tend to be the more prominent parkinsonian features, with rest tremor occurring rarely. There is variable responsiveness to levodopa .
Home Remedies And Lifestyle Changes
In addition to exercising and taking medication, your doctor may suggest you adjust your lifestyle to help you control your symptoms, Positive lifestyle changes include healthy eating, drinking plenty of fluids and attending Parkinsons support groups. You may also want to research home remedies such as massage, tai chi and yoga all of which can be helpful to those with Parkinsons disease.
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How Is Parkinsons Disease Diagnosed
Diagnosing Parkinsons disease is sometimes difficult, since early symptoms can mimic other disorders and there are no specific blood or other laboratory tests to diagnose the disease. Imaging tests, such as CT or MRI scans, may be used to rule out other disorders that cause similar symptoms.
To diagnose Parkinsons disease, you will be asked about your medical history and family history of neurologic disorders as well as your current symptoms, medications and possible exposure to toxins. Your doctor will look for signs of tremor and muscle rigidity, watch you walk, check your posture and coordination and look for slowness of movement.
If you think you may have Parkinsons disease, you should probably see a neurologist, preferably a movement disorders-trained neurologist. The treatment decisions made early in the illness can affect the long-term success of the treatment.
What Medications Are Used To Treat Parkinsons Disease
Medications are the main treatment method for patients with Parkinsons disease. Your doctor will work closely with you to develop a treatment plan best suited for you based on the severity of your disease at the time of diagnosis, side effects of the drug class and success or failure of symptom control of the medications you try.
Medications combat Parkinsons disease by:
- Helping nerve cells in the brain make dopamine.
- Mimicking the effects of dopamine in the brain.
- Blocking an enzyme that breaks down dopamine in the brain.
- Reducing some specific symptoms of Parkinsons disease.
Levodopa: Levodopa is a main treatment for the slowness of movement, tremor, and stiffness symptoms of Parkinsons disease. Nerve cells use levodopa to make dopamine, which replenishes the low amount found in the brain of persons with Parkinsons disease. Levodopa is usually taken with carbidopa to allow more levodopa to reach the brain and to prevent or reduce the nausea and vomiting, low blood pressure and other side effects of levodopa. Sinemet® is available in an immediate release formula and a long-acting, controlled release formula. Rytary® is a newer version of levodopa/carbidopa that is a longer-acting capsule. The newest addition is Inbrija®, which is inhaled levodopa. It is used by people already taking regular carbidopa/levodopa for when they have off episodes .
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What You Can Expect
Parkinson does follow a broad pattern. While it moves at different paces for different people, changes tend to come on slowly. Symptoms usually get worse over time, and new ones probably will pop up along the way.
Parkinsonâs doesnât always affect how long you live. But it can change your quality of life in a major way. After about 10 years, most people will have at least one major issue, like dementia or a physical disability.
Faqs About Parkinsons Disease
1. How does a doctor diagnose Parkinsons?
There is no specific test for diagnosing Parkinson’s disease. However in 2011, the FDA approved the DaTscan which takes pictures of the dopamine system in the brain. Doctors are able to use these results to increase their certainty of a Parkinsons diagnosis. The disease is currently diagnosed by a doctor completing a neurological examination and looking for two or more of the cardinal signs of Parkinsons which include muscle rigidity, slowed movement, and tremor.
2. Why does a person with Parkinsons drool?
Researchers and doctors are not completely sure what causes drooling in individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Some theories suggest that drooling occurs due to:
- Difficulty swallowing excessive saliva in the mouth as it accumulates.
- Lack of dopamine which controls saliva production.
- The forward stooped posture and open mouth that is often characteristic of people with the disease.
3. My dad has Parkinsons and he gets emotional and cries so easily whenever we visit him. Ive never seen my dad cry before and it makes me uncomfortable. Should I be concerned that something is wrong or is this part of his Parkinsons?
4. Is incontinence caused by Parkinson’s disease?
Not all individuals with Parkinson’s disease are incontinent. However, for individuals who are incontinent, it is thought that this incontinence is due to impaired nerve cells impulses from the brain traveling to the bladder and/or bowel.
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New Diagnostic Standards For Parkinsons
Until recently, the gold-standard checklist for diagnosis came from the U.K.s Parkinsons Disease Society Brain Bank. It was a checklist that doctors followed to determine if the symptoms they saw fit the disease. But thats now considered outdated. Recently, new criteria from the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society have come into use. This list reflects the most current understanding of the condition. It allows doctors to reach a more accurate diagnosis so patients can begin treatment at earlier stages.
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