Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson's Disease Genetic Marker

Understanding Parkinson’s Disease

Of the many degenerative nerve diseases known to the medical community, none has probably been made more public than Parkinson’s Disease. This is because there have been many celebrities who have come forward to the public telling them that they have Parkinson’s Disease. This includes famous personalities like Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali. They suffer from the degenerative disease and have made it their mission to make sure that the disease is known to others who might stand a chance at preventing it from happening.

What is Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s Disease is a degenerative nerve disease that basically affects the central nervous system. By doing so, it directly affects the sufferer’s motor skills and speech. The disease belongs in a group known as movement disorders because this is exactly how it affects people with PD. It makes muscles rigid, causes tremors throughout the body, slows down physical movement and in some cases can cause physical movement to stop entirely.Parkinson’s Disease  is actually part of a larger group of syndromes known as Parkinsonism. This group of syndromes is characterized by bodily tremors, hypokinesia (or the diminished movement of body muscles), and postural instability. Parkinson’s Disease is a chronic and a progressive disease which means that if it is not treated on a regular basis, it can get worse.

What Happens in Parkinson’s Disease?

When there is decreased stimulation of the nerves and the motor skills are affected, this means that it is caused by a lack of action from dopamine which is a substance that is created in the dopaminergic neurons of the brain. Dopamine is needed because it acts as a hormone and a neurotransmitter. What it does is it activates dopamine receptors in the brain and in Parkinson’s Disease, this activation does not happen too often. This is why people who have Parkinson’s Disease sometimes have to have dopamine injected into their system so that the receptors can be activated. Dopamine plays an important role in the functions of the brain including behavior, cognition, motor activity, sleep, mood, attention, and learning. People with Parkinson’s Disease suffer from the lack of these functions.

Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease

The most apparent of symptoms comes in the form of motor skills or in the lack of. A person who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease will have tremors. A tremor happens when a limb is rested and relaxed and moves involuntarily at times. This is the most visible and well-known symptom of Parkinson’s Disease. There is also the symptom known as rigidity or stiffness. Basically the muscle tone is increased with this symptom because of the passive tremors of the limbs. Then there are the gait and posture disturbances; this includes shuffling wherein a person takes short steps with the feet not leaving the ground. A shuffling noise is created and thus the name. Shuffling causes patients to trip over the smallest of obstacles. Postural reflexes, on the other hand, start to fail and this leads to a patient losing his or her balance and falling.

Like most other degenerative nerve diseases, Parkinson’s Disease also does not have a cure. But one can slow down the degeneration of cells by leading a healthy lifestyle and one filled with exercise as well.