An Affliction of the Nerves—Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease has been named in honor of the person who first discovered it in 1817, James Parkinson. It is also known as shaking palsy or paralysis agitans.
An exploration of the brain stem (the part of the brain that continues with the spinal cord) will reveal a small region known as Substantia nigra or the black substance. An important chemical is released here—Dopamine. This substance allows effective communication of messages from one nerve cell (neuron) to another, resulting in balanced and well-coordinated muscle movements. Reduce the amount of Dopamine, and what happens? The nerves begin to transmit mixed or incomplete messages from the central nervous system to the limbs. The individual suffers a complete loss of control—slow and uncoordinated movements, stiffness in limbs, rigidity and tremors.
The nerves that relay information from the brain to the limbs are referred to as motor nerves. So motor symptoms are more obvious in a person with Parkinson’s disease—difficulty in getting up from a seated position, walking with a stooped and shuffling gait, reduction in arm swinging when walking, bradykinesia or slowed movements, stiffness of muscles, lack of facial expressions, freezing in place (rigidity), resting tremor (the limbs shake even when the individual is not moving), and postural instability. The writing is extremely small and illegible.
It does not stop with motor symptoms only. With everything going wrong, the patient is bound to be depressed and suffer from sleep disturbances. Physiological symptoms are—urinary frequency, constipation, decreased sense of smell, drooling, difficulty in chewing and swallowing, and cramped and painful feet. The person is almost inaudible in speech; so others cannot comprehend easily.
More common in women than men, the onslaught on the nerve cells generally begins after 60 years of age. It rarely attacks anyone below 30 years of age. Genetic transfer is rare. Whether mild or severe in nature, Parkinson’s disease is a long-term affliction and needs to be treated with care. With the hope of knowing more about this illness, many laboratories and researchers are conducting clinical trials.
Specific drugs can provide a significant amount of relief to patients. In case the response to drugs is poor, surgery is recommended. Known as Deep Brain Stimulation, this procedure helps to alleviate the fluctuations in symptoms.
There are non-pharmacological treatments too for Parkinson’s disease. The physiological symptoms are tackled by the concerned doctors. Specific therapists involved in the treatment are a physical therapist, speech or language therapist and an occupational therapist. Mobility aids or Orthotics may be used by the physical therapist to regulate movements and improve posture, as well as stretch and strengthen the weakened muscles. Specific voice training programs that have specifically designed for the patients of Parkinson’s disease are utilized by the speech or language therapist. It is the goal of the occupational therapist to ensure better motor coordination. So the prognosis ought to be quite good, isn’t it?
