Parkinson’s Disease Essay

Parkinson disease (PD), also referred to as Parkinson’s disease and paralysis agitans, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is the third most common neurologic disorder of older adults. It is a debilitating disease affecting motor ability and is characterized by four cardinal symptoms: tremor rigidity, bradykinesia or kinesis (slow movement/no movement), and postural instability. Most people have primary, or idiopathic, disease. A few patients have secondary parkinsonian symptoms from conditions such as brain tumors and certain anti-psychotic drugs.

There is a little research on the causes of PD. Some assumptions are made, including issues such as severity of childhood abuse and neglect, as antecedent risks to the development of PD in adulthood. Mental factors and genes such as brain injury or a lack of serotonin is thought to be a part of the cause. (Cohen, et.al. 2001).

PD is the second most common neurodegenerative disease featured pathologically by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. The typical symptoms of PD include slowness of movements (bradykinesia), muscle stiffness (rigidity), tremor, and balance disturbance. Etiopathologically, PD is considered to be caused by the significant loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta and the subsequent dopamine depletion at the striatum. To date, there are only symptomatic treatments available for PD, particularly in the early stages of the disease. No therapy has been found that can cure or halt the progression of the disease.

Unfortunately by the time that PD is first diagnosed, 60% to 70% of the neurons in the SN responsible for dopamine have degenerated and the striatal dopamine content is reduced by 80% (Adler, 2011) and

Both environmental and genetic factors have been proposed causes of PD. Studies have suggested that exposure to certain

The cause of PD is still unknown at this time, although a number of theories are presently

    Parkinson’s disease is a chronic and possessive moving disorder that causes malfunctions and death of vital neurons in the brain (Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, 2017). It is a severe disease that affects many americans. Risk factors include age and gender. More often than most, older men of over the age 60 are the target for Parkinson’s. Symptoms include tremors, slowness in movement, muscle stiffness, and more severely the inability to walk. Treatments include medications, therapy, and surgery while depending on the factor of how severe the Parkinson’s case is.  Parkinson’s disease varies in five stages, one being the less severe symptoms and case of treatments .

Introduced by James Parkinson in his 1817 monograph “Essay on the Shaking Palsy,” Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common age-related neuro-degenerative disease identified after Alzheimer 's disease. It is a progressive disorder in result of affected nerve cells in the brain. The disease progresses gradually taking several years moving from prodromal period into motor period, and the motor period may take up to twenty years. Symptoms of PD are mostly associated with degenerated body movements, and the treatment typically include self-care, meditation, and surgery. Unfortunately, there is currently no cure for PD, and the prognosis of the disease is unclear.

The first topic that we will discuss is the cause of Parkinson’s disease. They have determined that there is no exact cause for Parkinson’s disease. They have linked the decrease in dopamine to Parkinson’s disease but not have specifically linked the cause of Parkinson’s to the decrease in dopamine.

Currently, drug medications, surgery, and lifestyle changes are common approaches to PD, while all of them focused on reducing the

There are many genetic disorders, but Parkinson’s disease is one of the worst. Parkinson’s disease affects people usually 50 and over. Because of rising life expectancies Parkinson’s is predicted to appear even more. So far there are treatments for Parkinson’s but no cure, and they don’t know when there’s going to be one. Even though Parkinson’s disease is not fatal it can reduce a person’s life span, as well as mess up the social experience and can also lead up to severe incapacity within 10-20 years.

Parkinson's disease (PD) was first described on 1817 by James Parkinson (Dauer & Przedborski, 2003). PD is a progressive neuromuscular disorder. It has an average age of onset of about 55 years of age. The lifetime prevalence rate is about 0.15 percent, but the incidence of PD increases as people get older (American Psychiatric Association, 2004). The vast majority of PD cases are labeled as "sporadic Parkinson's disease" (cause unknown) but about five percent of PD cases are inherited (Dauer & Przedborski, 2003). Secondary Parkinsonism exists and is often a result of some drug (typically dopamine antagonists), hypoxia, or a brain tumor.

The Parkinson’s Disease Foundation states that this disease is a chronic and progressive movement disorder. In another words, the disease typically worsens over time. Nearly one million people in the United States live with Parkinson’s disease today (Parkinson’s Disease Foundation: What is Parkinson’s Disease, 2016). The cause of this disease is still being researched and tested, but as of now it is still unknown and has no cure. Since there is no cure, things like medications, treatments, and surgery are given to prolong and stabilize a person with the disease. Parkinson 's is when the vital nerve cell called a neuron dies. This happens in the part of the brain; substantia nigra, the dying cells still provide dopamine which is a chemical that sends messages to the brain to control body movements and coordination. As the disease increases and gets more severe, the amount of dopamine produced decreases which is when a person typically relies on medications to help control movements and their coordination. Symptoms of this disease vary from person to person, the most common ones associated with it are tremors of hands, face, jaw, legs, and arms, slowness of movement, stiffness of limbs, and impaired balance/coordination.

A study done has brought up the potential of coffee preventing PD. The benefits are most likely coming from the caffeine. It could lead to new treatments or even eventually pevent the disorder. In the study, men who did not drink coffee were five times more likely to develop PD than those who drank up to 6 ounce cups per day. Men who did not drink coffee were only 2-3 more times likely to develop the disease than men who had 4 ounce cups a day. The results are only based on men and cannot be confirmed for women yet. Caffeine may be protecting the brain from nerve-call damage that causes the PD. An additional factor that could attribute to the results is cigarette smoking. If caffeine indeed does have benefits, it is not clear whether it can prevent or slow

Although many theories and hypotheses were raised as to why this happens, there is no solid information supporting the physiological cause of this, but it is surely one of various factors that may lead to the development of PD.