Myth : Parkinsons Is Only A Motor Condition
Fact: While its true that Parkinsons disease symptoms include shaking and tremor, rigid muscles, slowness of movement, and a frozen or flat expression, its a lot more than that.
Nonmotor symptoms deserve and are getting more attention from doctors and researchers. These symptoms include cognitive impairment or dementia , anxiety and depression, fatigue, sleep problems and more.
For some patients, nonmotor symptoms are more disabling than motor symptoms, which are the focus of treatment. Be sure to talk to your doctor about other issues so you can get all of your symptoms addressed.
How Do I Take Care Of Myself
If you have Parkinsons disease, the best thing you can do is follow the guidance of your healthcare provider on how to take care of yourself.
- Take your medication as prescribed. Taking your medications can make a huge difference in the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. You should take your medications as prescribed and talk to your provider if you notice side effects or start to feel like your medications aren’t as effective.
- See your provider as recommended. Your healthcare provider will set up a schedule for you to see them. These visits are especially important to help with managing your conditions and finding the right medications and dosages.
- Dont ignore or avoid symptoms. Parkinsons disease can cause a wide range of symptoms, many of which are treatable by treating the condition or the symptoms themselves. Treatment can make a major difference in keeping symptoms from having worse effects.
Prognosis Of Parkinsons Disease
As Parkinsons progresses, symptoms often worsen. Some people who respond well to therapy have minimal disability issues. Others, however, become severely incapacitated.
Although Parkinsons isnt considered a fatal disease itself, it can cause life-threatening complications that may shorten your life span.
Today, most people living with Parkinsons disease have close to a normal life expectancy.
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How Is It Diagnosed
Diagnosing Parkinson’s disease is mostly a clinical process, meaning it relies heavily on a healthcare provider examining your symptoms, asking you questions and reviewing your medical history. Some diagnostic and lab tests are possible, but these are usually needed to rule out other conditions or certain causes. However, most lab tests aren’t necessary unless you don’t respond to treatment for Parkinson’s disease, which can indicate you have another condition.
What Are The Risk Factors For Parkinsons Disease
Risk factors for Parkinsons disease include:
Genetics
People with a first-degree relative with Parkinsons are at an increased risk for the disease possibly as much as 9 percent greater.
Fifteen percent of people with Parkinsons have a known relative with the disease, but a condition called familial Parkinsons, which has a known genetic link, is relatively rare.
The average age of onset is 60 years, and the incidence rises with advancing age. About 4 percent of people have early-onset or young-onset disease, which begins before age 50.
Gender
Parkinsons affects about 50 percent more men than women, for unknown reasons.
Pesticide Exposure
Exposure to some pesticides has been shown to raise the risk of developing Parkinsons.
Problematic chemicals include organochlorine pesticides like DDT, dieldrin, and chlordane. Rotenone and permethrin have also been implicated.
Fungicide and Herbicide Exposure
Exposure to the fungicide maneb or the herbicides 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid , paraquat, or Agent Orange may raise the risk of Parkinsons.
The U.S. Veterans Health Administration considers Parkinsons to be a possible service-related illness if the person was exposed to significant amounts of Agent Orange.
Head Injuries
Head injuries may contribute to the development of Parkinsons in some people.
Coffee and Smoking
People who drink coffee or smoke tobacco have been found to have a lower risk of Parkinsons disease, for reasons that remain unclear.
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Parkinsons Disease Also Has Non
Tremors are a well-known symptom of Parkinsons disease include. However, while this and other motor-related symptoms are often experienced, non-motor symptoms can also affect people with Parkinsons disease. These include trouble sleeping, constipation, bladder problems, mood disorders, depression, anxiety and cognitive concerns like memory loss or slowed thinking.
Changes In Cognition And Parkinsons Disease
Some people with Parkinsons may experience changes in their cognitive function, including problems with memory, attention, and the ability to plan and accomplish tasks. Stress, depression, and some medications may also contribute to these changes in cognition.
Over time, as the disease progresses, some people may develop dementia and be diagnosed with Parkinsons dementia, a type of Lewy body dementia. People with Parkinsons dementia may have severe memory and thinking problems that affect daily living.
Talk with your doctor if you or a loved one is diagnosed with Parkinsons disease and is experiencing problems with thinking or memory.
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Who Does Pd Affect
Getting older is the biggest factor for PD with most people diagnosed in their 60s. In rare cases, some people will develop PD before age 50, known as young-onset PD. Men are 1.5 times more likely to have PD than women.
Directly inheriting the disease is quite rare. Only about 10 to 15 percent of all cases of Parkinsons are thought to be genetic forms of the disease. In the other 85 to 90 percent of cases, the cause is unknown.
What Is Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinsons disease occurs when brain cells that make dopamine, a chemical that coordinates movement, stop working or die. Because PD can cause tremor, slowness, stiffness, and walking and balance problems, it is called a movement disorder. But constipation, depression, memory problems and other non-movement symptoms also can be part of Parkinsons. PD is a lifelong and progressive disease, which means that symptoms slowly worsen over time.
The experience of living with Parkinson’s over the course of a lifetime is unique to each person. As symptoms and progression vary from person to person, neither you nor your doctor can predict which symptoms you will get, when you will get them or how severe they will be. Even though broad paths of similarity are observed among individuals with PD as the disease progresses, there is no guarantee you will experience what you see in others.
Estimates suggest that Parkinsons affects nearly 1 million people in the United States and more than 6 million people worldwide.
For an in-depth guide to navigating Parkinsons disease and living well as the disease progresses, check out our Parkinsons 360 toolkit.
What Is Parkinson’s Disease?
Dr. Rachel Dolhun, a movement disorder specialist and vice president of medical communications at The Michael J. Fox Foundation, breaks down the basics of Parkinson’s.
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Parkinsons Disease Has Many Stages
There are five stages of Parkinsons disease:
- Stage 1: At this stage, you will have only mild symptoms and can go about your day-to-day life relatively easily.
- Stage 2: Symptoms such as tremors and stiffness begin to worsen and affect both sides of the body. You may develop poor posture or have trouble walking.
- Stage 3: In this stage, your movement will begin to slow down and you lose balance. Symptoms can hinder your ability to perform daily tasks such as getting dressed or cooking.
- Stage 4: Symptoms are severe and cause significant issues with day-to-day living. At this point, you are unable to live alone because you cannot complete daily tasks on your own.
- Stage 5: Walking or standing could be impossible at this point. Typically, people at this stage are confined to a wheelchair or bed and require a nurse to take care of them at home.
Physical Therapy In The Early Stages Of Parkinson Disease
It is important to see a physical therapist as soon as possible after receiving a Parkinson diagnosis. A physical therapist can educate you and your caregivers on the physical effects of your condition. When symptoms are mild, they can help you slow their progression and address movement problems before they begin affecting your daily life.
Physical therapy can help you stay ahead of and manage mild symptoms and prepare for those that may develop. They will work with you to help you keep the strength and flexibility you need to continue doing things on your own.
Your physical therapist will design a treatment plan that includes prescribed exercises to meet your needs and goals. A key component of physical therapy is patient education. Your physical therapist will teach you strategies to help you:
- Keep your ability to move.
- Take care of yourself, your home, and work.
- Do activities you enjoy .
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What Is Lewy Body Dementia Causes Symptoms And Treatments
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Lewy body dementia is a disease associated with abnormal deposits of a protein called alpha-synuclein in the brain. These deposits, called Lewy bodies, affect chemicals in the brain whose changes, in turn, can lead to problems with thinking, movement, behavior, and mood. Lewy body dementia is one of the most common causes of dementia.
LBD affects more than 1 million individuals in the United States. People typically show symptoms at age 50 or older, although sometimes younger people have LBD. LBD appears to affect slightly more men than women.
Diagnosing LBD can be challenging. Early LBD symptoms are often confused with similar symptoms found in other brain diseases or in psychiatric disorders. Lewy body dementia can occur alone or along with other brain disorders.
It is a progressive disease, meaning symptoms start slowly and worsen over time. The disease lasts an average of five to eight years from the time of diagnosis to death, but can range from two to 20 years for some people. How quickly symptoms develop and change varies greatly from person to person, depending on overall health, age, and severity of symptoms.
In the early stages of LBD, symptoms can be mild, and people can function fairly normally. As the disease advances, people with LBD require more help due to a decline in thinking and movement abilities. In the later stages of the disease, they often depend entirely on others for assistance and care.
Help You Achieve The Benefits Of Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise is strongly recommended for people with Parkinson disease. Regular exercise can slow the disease and protect your brain cells. It also can help you maintain your ability to do everyday activities.
Aerobic exercise can help:
- Improve the amount of oxygen your body can use during exercise .
- Reduce the severity of motor disease.
- Improve your ability to function.
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Causes Of Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is caused by a loss of nerve cells in part of the brain called the substantia nigra. This leads to a reduction in a chemical called dopamine in the brain.
Dopamine plays a vital role in regulating the movement of the body. A reduction in dopamine is responsible for many of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Exactly what causes the loss of nerve cells is unclear. Most experts think that a combination of genetic and environmental factors is responsible.
What About The Later Stages Of The Disease
Support from a physical therapist is important if symptoms start to affect your quality of life. So is continuing a regular exercise program.
Parkinson disease can make it hard to take care of your everyday needs. It also can cause balance problems that increase your risk for a fall. In the later stages, a physical therapist can help you:
- Minimize a further decline.
- Reduce your risk of falling.
- Learn to move and change positions more easily .
- Adapt to new or changing symptoms.
- Maintain your strength so you can stay as physically active as possible.
Whether you are in the early or later stages of the disease, your physical therapist will adjust your treatment plan as needed. They also may recommend assistive devices for your safety and mobility.
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What Medications And Treatments Are Used
Medication treatments for Parkinsons disease fall into two categories: Direct treatments and symptom treatments. Direct treatments target Parkinsons itself. Symptom treatments only treat certain effects of the disease.
Medications
Medications that treat Parkinsons disease do so in multiple ways. Because of that, drugs that do one or more of the following are most likely:
Several medications treat specific symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Symptoms treated often include the following:
- Erectile and sexual dysfunction.
- Hallucinations and other psychosis symptoms.
Deep brain stimulation
In years past, surgery was an option to intentionally damage and scar a part of your brain that was malfunctioning because of Parkinsons disease. Today, that same effect is possible using deep-brain stimulation, which uses an implanted device to deliver a mild electrical current to those same areas.
The major advantage is that deep-brain stimulation is reversible, while intentional scarring damage is not. This treatment approach is almost always an option in later stages of Parkinson’s disease when levodopa therapy becomes less effective, and in people who have tremor that doesnt seem to respond to the usual medications.
Experimental treatments
Researchers are exploring other possible treatments that could help with Parkinsons disease. While these arent widely available, they do offer hope to people with this condition. Some of the experimental treatment approaches include:
What Are The Early Warning Signs Of Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinsons warning signs can be motor symptoms like slow movements, tremors or stiffness. However, they can also be non-motor symptoms. Many of the possible non-motor symptoms can appear years or even decades ahead of motor symptoms. However, non-motor symptoms can also be vague, making it difficult to connect them to Parkinson’s disease.
Non-motor symptoms that might be early warning signs include:
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Prevention Of Parkinsons Disease
Researchers dont know of any proven ways to prevent Parkinsons disease, but avoiding certain risk factors and adopting a healthy lifestyle may reduce your risk.
Some studies have shown a diet high in antioxidants along with regular exercise may play a role in preventing Parkinsons. Other findings have suggested that compounds like caffeine, niacin, and nicotine may have a protective effect against Parkinsons disease.
Researchers have studied various formulations of nicotine including intranasal, transdermal, and chewing gum to see whether they could help with Parkinsons symptoms, but so far none has been found effective at slowing the progression of Parkinsons.
Incidence Of Parkinsons Disease
Its estimated that approximately four people per 1,000 in Australia have Parkinsons disease, with the incidence increasing to one in 100 over the age of 60. In Australia, there are approximately 219,000 people living with Parkinsons disease, with one in five of these people being diagnosed before the age of 50. In Victoria, there are more than 80,000 people living with Parkinsons.
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What Causes The Condition
Although there are several recognized risk factors for Parkinsons disease, such as exposure to pesticides, for now, the only confirmed causes of Parkinsons disease are genetic. When Parkinsons disease isnt genetic, experts classify it as idiopathic . That means they dont know exactly why it happens.
Many conditions look like Parkinson’s disease but are instead parkinsonism from a specific cause like some psychiatric medications.
Familial Parkinsons disease
Parkinsons disease can have a familial cause, which means you can inherit it from one or both of your parents. However, this only makes up about 10% of all cases.
Experts have linked at least seven different genes to Parkinson’s disease. They’ve linked three of those to early-onset of the condition . Some genetic mutations also cause unique, distinguishing features.
Idiopathic Parkinsons disease
Experts believe idiopathic Parkinsons disease happens because of problems with how your body uses a protein called -synuclein . Proteins are chemical molecules that have a very specific shape. When some proteins dont have the correct shape a problem known as protein misfolding your body cant use them and can’t break them down.
With nowhere to go, the proteins build up in various places or in certain cells . The buildup of these Lewy bodies causes toxic effects and cell damage.
Induced Parkinsonism
The possible causes are:
Having Parkinsons Is Not A Death Sentence
Parkinsons disease is not fatal, and your life expectancy depends highly on the type of Parkinson’s you have. If the type of disease isn’t causing issues with brain function, you can potentially live as long as people without the disease.
However, if someone has an atypical case of the condition that occurs at the same time as other conditions such as dementia, this can negatively affect their life expectancy.
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How Fast Does Parkinson’s Disease Progress
People tend to move through the Parkinson’s disease stages slowly, usually over the course of years. Research has shown that the disease tends to progress less rapidly in people who are diagnosed at a younger age than those diagnosed later in life.
What’s more, Parkinson’s disease may begin decades before a patient even notices a single motor symptom.
“We know that Parkinson’s disease actually starts many, many years before you see that tremor or that shuffling,” Lynda Nwabuobi, MD, assistant professor of clinical neurology at Weill Cornell Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Institute, tells Health. “We think at least 30 years.”
That early stage of Parkinson’s disease is called the “pre-motor” stage. It happens before a person has been diagnosed, and may include symptoms like loss of smell, REM sleep behavior disorder , and constipation.
“Patients will often tell you, ‘Yeah, I haven’t had a good sense of smell for many, many years,'” Dr. Nwabuobi says. “Or their spouse says, ‘He kicks a lot in his sleep. He’s done that since we were married.'”
But the reality is that, as with Parkinson’s disease symptoms, Parkinson’s disease progression will vary from person to person. “Some people have had Parkinson’s for two years and they’re not doing so well,” Dr. Nwabuobi says. “And then some people have Parkinson’s for 20 years and they’re doing great and living their lives.”