Parkinson’s Disease – What it is, Causes Symptoms and Treatments!

Parkinson’s Disease – What it is, Causes Symptoms and Treatments most suitable for dealing with this disease. In addition,  Parkinson ‘s  disease is a degenerative and slowly progressive disease of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).

Parkinson’s disease is characterized  by tremor when the muscles are at rest (rest tremor), increased muscle tone (stiffness), slowness of voluntary movement, and difficulty maintaining balance (postural instability).

In many people, thinking becomes impaired or dementia develops. Parkinson  ‘s  disease is the second most common degenerative disease of the central nervous system after Alzheimer’s disease .

It affects about one in 250 people over age 40, about one in 100 people over age 65, and about one in 10 people over age 80. It usually starts between the ages of 50 and 79. Rarely,  Parkinson  ‘s disease occurs in children or adolescents.

What is Parkinson’s Disease:  Parkinson  ‘s  Disease or Parkinson’s Disease is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system, chronic and progressive. It is caused by an intense decrease in the production of dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter (a chemical substance that helps in the transmission of messages between nerve cells).

Dopamine helps the body perform voluntary movements automatically, that is, we do not need to think about every movement that our muscles perform, thanks to the presence of this substance in our brains.

In the absence of it, particularly in a small brain region called the substantia nigra, the individual’s motor control is lost, causing the characteristic signs and symptoms  of Parkinson  ‘s Disease.

Causes  of Parkinson’s Disease:  Nerve cells use a brain chemical called dopamine to help control muscle movements. Parkinson  ‘s disease occurs when the nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine are slowly and progressively destroyed.

Without dopamine, nerve cells in this part of the brain cannot send messages correctly. This leads to loss of muscle function. The damage gets worse over time. The exact cause of the wear and tear of these brain cells is unknown, but doctors believe that a mixture of factors may be involved:

Genetics: Specific genetic mutations may be involved in the causes of Parkinson  ‘s disease , but these cases are rare, usually happening in family members affected by  Parkinson  ‘s disease . However, some genetic mutations appear to increase the risk of disease.

Environment: Exposure to certain toxins or environmental factors may increase the risk of Parkinson  ‘s disease in the future, but the risk is relatively small.

Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease: Parkinson ‘s  disease can affect only one or both sides of the body, and the degree of loss of function caused by the disease can vary depending on the case. The clinical picture basically consists of a few main symptoms:

  • tremors;
  • Slowness and poverty of voluntary movements (akinesia or bradykinesia);
  • Stiffness (tightening of the muscles, especially at the level of the joints);
  • Postural instability (difficulties related to balance, with frequent falls);
  • Loss of facial expression (apathetic expression);
  • Reduced blinking of the eyes;
  • Changes in speech;
  • Increased salivation;
  • blurred vision;
  • Micrography (handwriting changes and the letters become small);
  • Urinary incontinence .

For the diagnosis, however, it is not necessary that all the elements are present, just two of the first items mentioned.

Parkinson’s Disease Treatment:  The treatment of Parkinson  ‘s disease  can be drug, psychotherapeutic and even surgical in some cases. Drug treatment is based on neuroprotective drugs that aim to prevent the progressive decrease in dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for transmitting signals in the chain of nervous circuits.

Useful links: 

Psychotherapeutic treatment occurs in response to depression , memory loss and the onset of dementia and may include the prescription of antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs.

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