Have you or anyone in your family experienced unusual tremors in your head or any part of your body? Has moving become harder everyday? Do you feel your bones stiffen and feel as if your unbalanced? If so then you may be experiencing the intial effects of Parkinson’s disease. Originally called “Shaking Palsy” due to body tremors, Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement. Named by Dr. James Parkinson, Parkinson’s disease is a very serious disease. Many things are associated with Parkinson’s disease and in this essay you’ll learn all about them. This is Parkinson’s With more than 200,000 US cases per year, Parkinson’s disease has become a major part in disabilities among the elderly. …show more content…
Symptoms of Parkinson’s The four key symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are tremors of the hands, arms, legs, or jaw. Other common symptoms may include pain, dementia or confusion, fatigue, and sleep disturbances. Parkinson’s disease effects grow over time. Parkinson’s disease was first formally described in an essay called “Shaking Palsy” published in 1817 by a London Physician named James Parkinson. It’s not certain how long the disease has existed but its probably been around for thousands of years. There is no cure for parkinsons disease but there is treatment as ell as Parkinson’s Disease 4 medications that may help control the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. A medical diagnosis is requiered to determine treatment. Lab tests or imaging is often requiered as well. It’s chronic, and can last for years or be lifelong. Treatment for Parkinson’s Disease Treatment and medications for this disease include things like Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) inhibitors. Entacapone (Comtan) is the primary medication from this class. COMT mildly prolongs the effect of levodopa therapy by blocking
"SHATTERED NERVES." Los Angeles Times (1886-1922): 3. May 05 1889. ProQuest. Web. 20 Nov. 2013 .
Parkinson’s disease is not a condition that is necessarily easy to be diagnosed. Therefore, the individual is advised to see a Parkinson’s specialist to receive the most accurate diagnosis and consider what the best course of treatment for the individual would be.
Many people, like myself, after watching an episode of “The Michael Jay Fox Show,” started to be come curious as to what exactly this disease is. You ask yourself; What is this disease? What causes it? Can it be passed down from generation to generation? Is there a treatment? What would your life be like suffering from this? Through my research on Parkinson’s disease, I am determined to answer these questions. I hope to have a better understanding on this disease, and how it affects the lives of patients that I might see in a hospital.
Hypokinetic Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder that is often associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). It can occur when there is interference in the basal ganglia control circuit. These disruptions can include “degenerative, vascular, traumatic, infectious, inflammatory, neoplastic, and toxic-metabolic diseases (Duffy, 2013, p. 176).” Damage to the basal ganglia control circuit results in reduced range of motion as well as the inability to inhibit involuntary movements. Hypokinetic dysarthria is most commonly caused by PD; a progressive, neurogenic disease that is characterized by tremor, rigidity, slowness of movement, and incoordination. Eighty-seven percent of hypokinetic dysarthria cases are associated with degenerative disease (Duffy, 2013).
People who have been diagnosed with this lifelong disease have either started to see the early signs and symptoms or have yet to recognize them. The negative impact that fatigue, loss of muscle strength and in-coordination has on the patients with Parkinson’s disease can be improved with a well-balanced exercise regimen. The three most common physical symptoms the patient will experience are tremors, rigidity, and bradykinesia. “Tremors while at rest are the most common initial symptom and are present in around 70 percent of cases at disease onset. It often presents as a pill rolli...
Goldmann, David R., and David A. Horowitz. American College of Physicians Home Medical Guide to Parkinson's Disease. New York: Dorling Kindersley Pub., 2000. Print.
Parkinson disease (PD), also referred to as Parkinson’s disease and paralysis agitans, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is the third most common neurologic disorder of older adults. It is a debilitating disease affecting motor ability and is characterized by four cardinal symptoms: tremor rigidity, bradykinesia or kinesis (slow movement/no movement), and postural instability. Most people have primary, or idiopathic, disease. A few patients have secondary parkinsonian symptoms from conditions such as brain tumors and certain anti-psychotic drugs.
Parkinson's is an idiopathic, multifactorial neurodegenerative disease that attacks neurotransmitters in the brain called dopamine. Dopamine is concentrated in a specific area of the brain called the substantia nigra. The neurotransmitter dopamine is a chemical that regulates muscle movement and emotion. Dopamine is responsible for relaying messages between the substantia nigra and other parts of the brain to control body movement. The death of these neurotransmitters affects the central nervous system. The most common symptoms are movement related, including shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement and difficulty with posture. Behavioral problems may arise as the disease progresses. Due to the loss of dopamine, Parkinson's patients will often experience depression and some compulsive behavior. In advanced stages of the disease dementia will sometimes occur. The implications of the disease on the anatomy and physiology of the respiratory and phonatory systems significantly control speech.
The fact that early signs of Parkinsonism can easily be overlooked as normal aging, further complicates diagnosis. Therefore, primary care physicians of the middle-aged and elderly population must be extremely sensitive to patients’ outward appearance and changes in movement ability. Most signs and symptoms of Parkinson disease correspond to one of three motor deficiencies: bradykinesia, akinesia, tremor, and rigidity. The first two qualities are usually present before tremor, but often attributed to aging by the patient and even the physician, and thus the disease is rarely diagnosed until tremor becomes evident much later. An average of 80% of the nigrostriatal neurons may have already degenerated by the time Parkinsonism is diagnosed, which complicates treatment (Fitzgerald, 130).
.... Rest tremor is usually unilateral starting from hand and foot and the movement of the fingers and thumb is usually described as pill rolling action. As the disease progresses, the tremors spread to all the four limbs. The counter action of muscles such as contraction and relaxation is disturbed leading to muscles soreness and finally rigidity. Patients experience slowness in their routine activities and tend to fall backward due to loss of postural reflexes. Other secondary signs include mask like face, slurred speech, drooling of saliva, difficulty in writing commonly called as micrographia, constipation, depression and difficulty in swallowing. Parkinson's malady is regularly connected with psychiatric dullness, which incorporates discouragement, uneasiness, and dopaminergic psychosis. Therefore, several medications and psycho therapies are available for relief.
Discussion between the physician and the patient regarding treatment options and the risks and benefits of treatment.
Handbook of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests with Nursing Implications (3rd edition). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company.
Bell’s palsy is a paralysis or weakness of the muscles on one side of your face. It results from damage to the nerve that controls movement of the muscles in the face, the damage may also affect your sense of taste and how you make tears and saliva. This condition can come on, often overnight and usually gets better on its own within a few weeks. This is not a result of a stroke or transient ischemic attack. This is referred to as a (TIA). Palsy simply means weakness or paralysis,
James Parkinson first discovered Parkinson's Disease in 1817. Parkinson's Disease is a common neurologic disorder for the elderly. It is a disorder of the brain characterized by shaking and difficulty with walking, movement, and coordination. This disease is associated with damage to a part of the brain that controls muscle movement. Parkinson's Disease is a chronic illness that is still being extensively studied.
"Secondary Parkinsonism: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 11 May 2014.