Parkinson's disease. Signs and Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease
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Parkinson’s disease
Despite the vast technological and medical enhancements over the years, there still exist several incurable diseases which scientists and medical experts have not found cures to and Parkinson’s disease is one of them. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive, degenerative disorder of the nerves that affects an individual’s motor system and the part of the brain that assists in the movement. James Parkinson, a 19th Century apothecary coined the term Parkinson’s disease in one of his essays where he had attempted to highlight shaking as one of the symptoms of the disease. During that and the period before, not so much was known about the disease and as a result, it was commonly referred as “Shaking Palsy”. Similar to the cure, the exact causes for the disease still remain a mystery with the medical experts left with speculations from genetics to environmental factors as justifiable causes. The disease usually develops gradually with initial symptoms being barely noticeable hand tremors. Other early symptoms of the disease include little or fading facial expression, slurred speech and non-coordination of the arms and legs when walking. The symptomatic conditions for the disease vary among people and tend to worsen over time, but with the appropriate care and medications the symptoms can be significantly suppressed allowing the affected person to live longer.
Causes of Parkinson’s disease
Medical experts have not been able to clearly pinpoint the exact cause for the disease and what they are sure of is that the disease affects part of an individual’s brain characterized by the death of the nerve cells. Shafique states “Many of the symptoms are due to loss of neurons that produce a chemical messenger in your brain called dopamine”(Shafique, 2011). The loss of the nerve cells and the decreasing levels of dopamine result in abnormal brain activity and eventually symptoms of the disease. There have also been suggestions that the disease could be caused by specific genetic mutations, especially in the cases where more than one family member has been affected by the disease. In addition, environmental factors such as exposure to toxic substances like pesticides have been attributed to cause the disease.
Signs and Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease affects individuals slowly and gradually over the years with the effects in the progression of the symptoms varying from one individual to another. It is a movement disorder and the affected people will experience stiff muscles and some difficulty in walking. The early signs are often mild and without proper diagnosis may not be easily noticeable. These early signs also usually affect one part of the body characterized by tremors and or shaking of the limbs when one is resting or relaxed. Bradykinesia or otherwise known as slowed movement is a major symptom of the disease with individuals experiencing shorter steps in the walks, dragging of the feet and difficulty getting up from sitting positions. The muscles thereafter become stiff and rigid inhibiting one’s motion and putting him/her in significant amounts of pain. The rigid muscles further contribute to impaired balance and a change in the gait and body posture to an almost stooped position. Affected individuals also find it very difficult to swing their arms when walking. In addition, the disease prohibits automatic movements and as a result, there will be decreased facial expressions, decreased eye blinking and overall loss in the performance of unconscious movements. Slurred and monotonous speech and difficulty in writing are some of the other symptoms of the disease. Some patients are also faced with frequent fainting incidences especially when standing and experience swallowing problems. Other complications that arise include sleep disorders, depression, sexual dysfunction, bladder problems, constipation, dementia and depression (LaRocco, 2015).
Diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease
Based on the fact that the causes of Parkinson’s disease are not very clear, doctors find it very hard to initially correctly diagnose the disease. Therefore, there are no specific tests for Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, but a neurologist through proper evaluation and examination of the symptoms can be able to establish that it’s actually the disease. The neurologist will in addition to an examination of the symptoms conduct regular blood tests to rule out other conditions and will often request for frequent follow-up appointments in...