Parkinson 's Disease As A Medical Condition

Neurology is one of the most unexplored fields in medicine; however, more recently there has been a spike in the amount of research being done in this specialty. This is because people are becoming more interested in neuroscience, including myself. I attended a pre-medical vocational high school, which exposed me to a greater amount of knowledge pertaining to the basics of anatomy and physiology, along with hands-on opportunities in a medical setting. It was here where I realized that I wanted to pursue a career in medicine; however, due to the fact medical field is very broad, I had no set specialty. This changed when I was exposed to the cruel manifestations of Parkinson’s Disease. During, sophomore year of high school, my grandfather passed away due to complications of Parkinson’s Disease. The way that a neurodegenerative disease was able to overtake a person in the manner that it did was shocking, and while it brought me great grief initially, it later intrigued me. I took up an interest in neuroscience and began to do my own research which culminated in various projects and applications throughout the remainder of my time in high school. These experiences have culminated in my decision to work toward a Cell Biology and

Parkinson disease (PD) is one of the most common neurologic disorders. and it affects approximately 1% of individuals older than 60 years old. Parkinson’s disease is a condition that progresses slowly by treatment. In addition, loss of pigmented dopaminergic neurons of the substantianigra pars compacta and the presence of Lewy bodies and Lewyneurites are the two major neuropathologic findings in Parkinson disease (Hauser, 2016).

By the time someone shows signs and symptoms of Parkinson 's, Dopamine production in the brain has been reduced by 60 to 80% and is fairly advanced. This results in the most recognizable sign of Parkinson 's disease, the resting tremor of the hand or hands. During deliberate movement, the resting tremor goes away, at first. At rest, the tremor will become exacerbated,

Many may not know Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the world. This disease is most seen in the elderly starting at 62 years of age although, younger individuals can still have the disease it isn’t common. Parkinson’s make it difficult for its victims to carry out everyday activities that might have once been easy for them. As the disease progresses it makes it hard for the patient to do things like walk, stand, swallow and speak. A great deal of people don’t realize how helpful therapy can be when dealing with such disease!

When people hear the words Parkinson’s disease they think, “Isn’t that what Michael J. Fox has?” For those who are asking, “Who is Michael J. Fox?” He was the character Marty McFly in the “Back to the Future” movie and played on many TV shows. After being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he set up an organization to research Parkinsonism. What the Michael J. Fox Foundation found was that 40 percent of the people living with Parkinson’s disease experience dystonia as an early symptom or a complication of treatment. This is the only blurb you see on the website about dystonia. In fact, it is so much like the other disorders out there that many people have never heard of it. The purpose of this paper is to inform

The National Parkinson Foundation located on the website www.parkinson.org, was designed to help people who are affected by parkinson’s disease and to be more aware of the disease through education, treatment options and expert care research. The mission of the non-profit organization states “We make life better for people with Parkinson 's through expert care and research. Everything we do helps people actively enjoy life with their friends, families, children and grandchildren until there is a tomorrow without Parkinson 's” (National Parkinson Foundation). The National Parkinson Foundation targeted audiences includes people who suffer from

Affecting an estimated 4 million people worldwide (NIH), Parkinson’s is one of the less common nervous system disorders. Despite its rarity, Parkinson’s is largely researched because there is no cure and few effective treatments. It also has a big impact on quality of life for those afflicted. This disease usually shows up after age 40 and occurs when the brain cells that are responsible for motor skills die. Symptoms include tremors, inability to move, and impaired cognitive function, all of which worsen over time. Because this is a condition that affects the brain, if an effective treatment can be established, treatments for other more common conditions such as Alzheimer’s may soon follow. This makes it a critical topic for today’s doctors and scientists.

To be honest, Parkinson’s disease scares me; the eventuality of being frozen inside of my own body is terrifying. I have a customer that has shopped with us for at least the past seven years. I can remember when his hands started to shake so badly that he would just hold his coin purse out to me to select his change for him. Now he can’t even remove his own wallet from his back pocket. He will turn around and I pull out his wallet, take out his money or credit card to complete his transaction and then put his wallet back into his back pocket. We don’t talk about it and I try to act like I don’t even notice it, but I do and it’s terrifying.

The symptoms of Parkinson's disease that Ali experienced began in the early 1980's. His feet didn't seem to move as fast as they once did, and the usually proud man slouched forward in a defeated position. His thinking was also beginning to be impaired.

Parkinson’s Disease is a long-term progressive neurodegenerative disease consisting of motor system impairment, neuropsychiatric, and nonmotor features. The disease is characterized by the following key clinical features: bradykinesia, resting tremor, postural instability, and rigidity. These symptoms are due to the diminishing of dopamine in the nigrostriatal pathway and substantia nigra, which causes inhibition of the thalamus decreasing excitatory input to the motor cortex.1 Along with the key manifestations an individual with Parkinson’s Disease will experience problems associated with the disease or the antiparkinson medications. These co-occurring problems are hallucinations, dementia, daytime sleepiness, fatigue, depression, and pyschosis.2 Psychosis is a common problem in Parkinson’s Disease, and is characterized by paranoid delusions and hallucinations that are visual in nature.2 Risk factors for psychosis consists of advancing age, dementia, sleep disorders, and high doses of antiparkinson drugs.1

Parkinson’s Disease is known as one of the most common progressive and chronic neurodegenerative disorders. It belongs to a group of conditions known as movement disorders. Parkinson disease is a component of hypokinetic disorder because it causes a decreased in bodily movement. It affects people who are usually over the age of 50. It can impair an individual motor as well as non-motor function. Some of the primary symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are characterized by tremors or trembling in hands, legs and arms. In early symptoms the tremor can be unilateral, appearing in one side of body but progression in the disease can cause it to spread to both sides; rigidity or a resistant to movement affects most people with Parkinson’s disease,

Family members, especially those aiding Parkinson’s disease patients, are emotionally and physically affected by the disease as well (it’s not just the PD patients). Both the patient and the people supporting them often suffer with depression, fatigue, or other stress related illnesses. What family members must understand is that taking care of a Parkinson’s disease patient can vary day to day. There will be times when patients may function almost normally and then other times when they are very dependent. Parkinson’s disease is unpredictable and presents new challenges for caregivers on a daily basis. Taking care of a loved one that is ill is just the half of the situation as caretakers also have to take care of their self and their families.

Definition: “Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive disease of the nervous system characterized by the cardinal features of rigidity, bradykinesia, tremor, and postural instability” (O’Sullivan and Schmitz, 2007). The condition can develop between age group 60 and 80 years and symptoms mostly appear around 60 years of age (O’Sullivan and Schmitz, 2007).

Charcot examined a large group of patients within Salpetriere Hospital in Paris, he had developed a way to observe tremors in action and at rest. “He noted that the patients with action tremor had accompanying features of weakness, spasticity, and visual disturbance. In contrast, those with rest tremor differed in having rigidity, slowed movements, a typical hunched posture, and very soft spoken.” (Goetz 2011) Charcot early tremor studies helped to establish Parkinson’s Disease through his very high publicized findings that neurological entity could be confidently be diagnosed. In 1957 a Swedish scientist Arvid Carlsson found out that dopamine in the brain region that is important for movement control. He showed that the levels of dopamine can be reduced in animals to cause symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease and also by giving the animals levodopa (L-dopa) to reverse the symptoms of PD. PD is second most common neurodegenerative after Alzheimer’s Disease and the most common movement disorder. Over 60,000 people here in the United States are diagnosed every year but they say the numbers can be much higher with undiagnosed people out there but over one million people live with Parkinson daily.10 million people worldwide live with Parkinson’s Disease and April 11th is World Parkinson’s Day. On April 11th, 2017 marked 200 years since James Parkinson publicized his essay.

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized mainly by physical and psychological disabilities. This disorder was named after James Parkinson, an English physician who first described it as shaking palsy in 1817 (Goetz, Factr, and Weiner, 2002). Jean- Martin Charcot, who was a French neurologist, then progressed and further refined the description of the disease and identified other clinical features of PD (Goetz, Factr, and Weiner, 2002). PD involves the loss of cells that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine in a part of the brain stem called the substansia nigra, which results in several signs and symptoms (Byrd, Marks, and Starr, 2000). It is manifested clinically by tremor,