Parkinson Disease, Symptoms, and its traditional Treatment

Parkinson’s disease basically affects movements and it is a progressive nervous system disorder. Symptoms start gradually, sometimes starting with a noticeable tremor in just one hand. Tremors are common, but the disorder also commonly causes stiffness or slowing of movement. 

Your face may show no expressions even a little in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. Sometimes arms may not swing when you walk. Speech becomes soft and slurred. If the proper medication is not taken, the symptoms worsen as your condition progresses over time. Proper medication can improve your symptoms. Occasionally, to improve the symptoms your doctor may suggest surgery to regulate certain regions of your brain.

Symptoms

The symptoms of Parkinson’s disease can vary differently for everyone. Most of the time, early signs may be mild and go unnoticed. Parkinson’s symptoms usually begin on one side of your body and remain worse on that side, even after symptoms begin to affect both sides. 

Some of the common symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are as follows:

Small Handwriting

One of the first symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is small handwriting and most of the time these symptoms always go without any notice. Small handwriting is one of the early symptoms of Parkinson’s patients. It is a sudden change in the size of handwriting. There is a medical term called ‘micrographia’ of small handwriting. In this case, individual letters tend to be smaller than normal and words are spaced closely. 

Sleep Problems

When you have got Parkinson’s disease, tossing and turning takes on a new meaning. One of the early symptoms of  Parkinson’s disease is uncontrollable movements not just sometimes but on a regular basis. Kicking, thrashing, flailing your arms, and even falling out of bed can be indications of a serious problem. 

Tremor

Tremor is perhaps the most recognizable sign of Parkinson’s disease. A slight twitching r shaking of a finger, hand, or foot is common. The person who is experiencing the tremor is likely to be the only person who notices them in the early stages of the disease. Most of the time, shaking will become worsen day by day, even another person can notice the change in your handshaking. However, as the condition progresses. The tremor is usually most noticeable at rest. 

Voice Changes

One of the early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is changes in voice. This disease affects movement in different ways, including how to speak. There are dramatic voice changes that can occur in the early stages of the disease.

Masking

Masking is a common sign of early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The diseases can make movement and control of small muscles in the face difficult. 

Posture

The symptoms of PD don’t happen overnight. Posture will change in small ways at first, and will gradually worsen. Gradually, in PD’s patient’s posture changes occur and become worse by the passage of time. Most of the time the patients lose their balance of the body. 

Causes

In Parkinson’s diseases, in the brain, several nerve cells gradually break down or die. Because of that, many symptoms appear due to a loss of neurons that produce a chemical messenger in the brain called dopamine. Slowly these levels decrease, in result abnormal brain activity leading symptoms to Parkinson’s disease. 

The genuine cause of Parkinson’s disease is unknown, but there are several factors appear to play a role, here are some of the factors. 

Environmental triggers

Environmental factors play a significant role in Parkinson’s disease to increase the symptoms of this disease. 

Genetic factors

Sometimes, Parkinson’s disease appears to run in the family, but it is not always hereditary. Researchers are trying to identify specific genetic factors that may lead to Parkinson’s diseases, but it appears that not one but a number of factors are responsible. 

Lewy bodies

A person with Parkinson’s disease may have clumps of protein in their brain known as Lewy bodies and researchers believe these Lewy bodies hold an important role in the cause of Parkinson’s disease. 

Risk Factors

According to the researcher, there are several risk factors in the patients, if anyone falls any of these factors, then these diseases could have dangerous effects on them. The risk factors are as follows.

Age Factor

If you are young, then PD has fewer chances to happen to you. It ordinarily begins in middle or late life. As the patient grown-up, the chances of risk will increase by the age of the patient. People usually develop the disease around age 60 or older.

Heredity

If you have any relative with Parkinson’s disease, it will increase the chances that you’ll develop the disease. But, there is nothing to worry about; your risks are still small unless you have many relatives in your family with PD. 

Sex Factor

According to the research, it has proved that men are more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease as compared to women. 

Treatments for Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease is a long-term degenerative disease that affects the central nervous system. There are medications and therapies available to address some of the symptoms and improve the quality of life for patients. 

Here are some drugs and therapies which are used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease to overcome the symptoms of these diseases.

Carbidopa-levodopa

Levodopa is a naturally occurring chemical that can enter the brain and be converted to dopamine when combined with carbidopa. The carbidopa also prevents the Levodopa from converting into dopamine before it enters the brain. 

The treatment is known as the most effective treatment for Parkinson’s disease. And most importantly, this the best treatment for long term use. But it has some side effects as well, there are several changes that a patient can experience some side effects as well, side effects like nausea, feeling lightheaded, and making sudden involuntary movements.  

Carbidopa-levodopa infusion

FDA approved Duopa in 2015. Duopa is a combination of carbidopa and Levodopa in a gel form which is administered via a feeding tube into the small intestine. The patients whose response to carbidopa-levodopa varied, Duopa is generally given to patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease. 

Dopamine Agonists:

Dopamine agonist mimics the effects of dopamine in the brain. They are generally not as effective as Levodopa but the effects last longer and they can be used in conjunction with Levodopa to counter any fluctuation inefficiency. 

MAO-B Inhibitors:

Medications such as selegiline and rasagiline help to prevent dopamine breaking down in the brain by releasing monoamine oxidase B enzymes. 

For the most part, these kinds of drugs ought not to be taken related to specific opiates or antidepressants as incidentally, patients will experience the ill effects of extreme responses. There are some side effects of MAO-B of this medication. A patient can be affected by insomnia and nausea and if taken with carbidopa-levodopa they can also cause hallucinations. 

Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) inhibitors

These types of medication help to prolong the effects of Levodopa by blocking brain enzymes that deplete dopamine. The side effects are the same as taking Levodopa, mainly involuntary movements, and diarrhea.

Anticholinergics

Traditionally, Anticholinergics have been used over the years to help combat tremors commonly experienced in Parkinson’s disease patients. However, side effects such as constipation, hallucinations, memory loss, constipation, and urination problems are often more troublesome. 

Amantadine

To relieve their symptoms, amantadine can be prescribed to patients in the early stages of Parkinson’s to offer relief from their symptoms. It can also be taken in combination with carbidopa-Levodopa in the later stages of the disease to help control side effects such as involuntary movements. 

Deep brain stimulation

Most regularly used in advanced cases of Parkinson’s disease for patients who no longer respond to Levodopa, deep brain stimulation involves the insertion of electrodes in the brain which are connected to a generator implanted in the chest area. The electrical pulses sent from the generator to the electrodes can reduce the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. There are serious threats of surgery. Because surgery carries serious risks such as brain hemorrhage, stroke, and infection. In addition, patients may need the equipment adjusting or parts replaced which involves more surgery. 

Some other Alternative Treatments for Parkinson’s disease

There are some alternative treatments for Parkinson’s disease is as follows;

Exercise

Exercise and yoga can lower stress, help you to be more relaxed, and increase energy, balance, and flexibility. In general, exercise is a safe, effective, and easy way to improve well-being. But, it would be better to consult with the doctor.

Diet

You can look and feel better by following the doctor’s and dietitians’ nutritional guidelines.

Positive Attitude

Always be positive. Having a positive outlook cannot treat Parkinson’s disease, but it can lower stress and help you feel better. 

I am CA Kailash Mantry. I am a life coach and mental health consultants. Once again I will tell that Parkinson’s is a treat.If your health is good or otherwise if you are a week then also it can be treated without medicine. Medicine will not be treat entirely.It is even curing the symptoms like restlessness, Anxiety.