Parkinson's Disease Research Paper

What would the world look like if there was no such thing as an illness? Thousands of people each and every day would be saved. Illnesses destroy families all across the globe. In the articles “Parkinson’s Alley” by Joy Horowitz, and “Topic of Cancer” by Christopher Hitchens, the authors explain the fact that the causes for cancer and Parkinson’s disease are not proven to be known. Joy Horowitz also points out; more and more research is being done each day to better the understanding of these terrible diseases. Although Parkinson’s disease and cancer are completely different diseases, they are astonishingly similar. Illnesses like cancer and Parkinson’s disease directly or indirectly affect everyone’s life.

The main symptoms and signs of Parkinson’s are bradykinesia, rigidity and rest tremor. Parkinson’s is mainly seen as a movement disorder, but other areas of health problems are associated with it. These include depression and dementia along with autonomic disturbances and pain, although considered to be rare they can present at a later stage of the condition. These rarer symptoms, as they progress, can lead to substantial disability and handicap which harms quality of life for the person living with Parkinson’s, this also has an impact on families and carer’s.

J.N., a 65-year-old Caucasian female with a history of anxiety and depression, presents for diagnostic testing at Saint Mary Medical Center in Hobart, Indiana to confirm or deny a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease, after presenting with recent onset of upper extremity tremor affecting both sides and facial masking. Patient history also includes bradykinesia, restlessness, fatigue, muscle weakness, and poor balance and coordination, all of which are common in a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. J.N. was referred to the Neurology Department of Saint Mary Medical Center after a routine appointment with her Cardiologist, who noted the recent onset of additional signs and symptoms. J.N. is my mother and my inspiration for this assignment.

The article “Living with Parkinson’s and Looking for Relief”, written by Carla Gantz, was found in RDH magazine as a feature in the February 2013 volume on pages 34,36,38, and 95. It is about a dental hygienist, Carla Gantz, who develops Parkinson’s disease while still in practice, and the various ways she copes with the disease. Gantz had Parkinson’s disease that was only on her right side, hand, arm, and shoulder, classifying her as stage 1 Parkinson’s disease. She started off taking low doses of levodopa to help with her tremors, but as the disease progressed, the medications changed, and the doses increased. Her role as a dental hygienist was also affected as her disease progressed. She couldn’t administer local anesthesia, her manual dexterity with instruments became more difficult, and when polishing or scaling, her hand would come to a halt, a secondary motor symptom of Parkinson’s disease. She should break this “freeze” by allowing her left arm to lift up her right arm, but that only worked for so long. Five years after being diagnosed, Gantz had to give up her career because her tremors got worse and her medication increased; she was taking up to thirteen pills per day.

The group leader facilitated the discussion that way, which seemed to flow appropriately. Steps 6-7, application and summary, also seemed to be completed simultaneously as well. The wrap-up included a recap of the session and helpful strategies shared. For the Parkinson’s group, there was no specific activity done during the session. The format of the group was an open group discussion where members were encouraged to participate. If anything, members needed the cognitive ability and working memory to engage in conversation. Also, adequate communication and social skills were required. There were many main ideas presented during the Parkinson’s discussion, but the two that were significant to the group were medications, and losing the ability to drive. The most common coping strategy amongst the group was exercise. Many of the members also expressed their medication concerns and side effects specifically. The most common coping strategy was exercise and being outdoors. Many of the members also expressed how they have become more grateful for the support of their spouses and or

In this term, I was nervous and excited to learn that I was being placed in the Parkinson’s Community for my clinical experience. I currently had little knowledge of the Parkinson’s Disease and just

This paper is an in depth examination of a family and their experiences involving a loved ones, further referred to as R.M., diagnosis with early onset Parkinson’s disease. The information for this paper was gathered through three unstructured interviews, with three different family members, taken independently over several days. These interviews revealed the family’s developmental life cycle stage over many years, the illness narratives from three different perspectives, and the effects of this illness on each of the different family members. K.M., R.M.’s daughter, experienced the greatest impact from her father’s diagnosis with early onset Parkinson’s disease. L.M., K.M.’s husband, offered the perspective from a non immediate family member who struggled with the effects that R.M.’s disease had on his wife, and the daunting task of watching the rapidly deteriorating physical abilities of R.M. T.M., the son of K.M. and L.M., described his unique experiences of seeing his grandfather sick and the effects this had on him at such a young age. A genogram and ecomap are included in the paper to provide an illustrative representation of the relationships within the family, as well as the various systems that have had an impact on this illness experience, such as the family’s involvement with the health care system.

Parkinson's disease is very difficult for people to deal with on a daily basics. The Parkinson's disease video showed Dale's life with Parkinson's disease Parkinson's affected not only his life but his wife's life because he didn't want to go anywhere because of all the stares the public would give him, it made him feel like he was mentally off and they would feel sorry for him he didn't want anyone feeling sorry for him, so he decided to just stay at home every day all day and this was a concern to his wife because they wasn't able to do the things they used to do. He stayed in the house all day but even at the house he had limited things. He had to get his wife to do all the things for him life dress him, feed him,and give him his medicine..

The human brain is a detailed network of nerve cells which receive and transmit electrochemical signals around the body. Billions of neurons work together sending information to nerve cells, muscles and gland cells. This essay will go into depth about how knowledge of neurons has allowed illnesses such as Parkinson’s to be more understood. Due to developing knowledge, Parkinson’s has been found to be connected to the death of neurons and low dopamine responses in the brain ("Parkinson 's disease - NHS Choices", 2016). The neurons objective is to convey information to neurons and other cells. The human brain has evolved over decades and has intricate wiring allowing humans to communicate and move (Palmer, L. M., & Stuart, G. J. 2006). Once the death of neurons take place the brains objective becomes harder to achieve and therefore the growth of diseases and illnesses form affecting the human’s ability. Parkinson’s is a disease and affects the bodies motor skills this being movement. However, cognitive ability still functions as normal but the long term effects of Parkinson’s can cause an inability to speak and the unstoppable tremors ("Parkinson 's Disease: Hope Through Research", 2016). Once the major symptoms of the disease take place the psychological impacts can cause people feel trapped in their own body due to not being able to communicate although, still being able to process information. This can be a frustrating and a very devastating disease as the symptoms vary and

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,

In the United States, around 1% of persons who are older than 60 years are diagnosed with Parkinson disease. This percentage is estimated to double by 2030 (Lamotte, Rafferty, Prodoehl, Kohrt, & Comella, 2015). The signs of Parkinson disease include rigidity, tremor, bradykinesia, and postural instability, along with other motor symptoms that could affect a person’s quality of life and an engaging in exercise include difficulty with motor planning and task performance. There is a need for effective alternative approaches to treat symptoms in Parkinson's disease along with medications and surgical interventions. Currently, several studies revealed that physical therapy intervention approaches increase physical functioning in Parkinson patients, such as improve gait, balance and mobility, fatigue, neurophysiological measures, quality of life, depression, cardiorespiratory function, and motor control measures. Additionally, physical therapy program could help the patient to participate in an exercise program to prevent deterioration related to progressive Parkinson disease (Gisbert, & Schenkman, 2015; Lamotte, Rafferty, Prodoehl, Kohrt, & Comella,

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’s disease is a disorder of the nervous system that progressively gets worse. The breaking down of certain neurons causes Parkinson’s. Many symptoms are due the lack of dopamine, which is produced by some neurons. It may just start with tremors in one hand but will commonly grow and cause stiff or slow movement. There are no cures for Parkinson’s but there are medications you can take to improve different symptoms. Dealing with Parkinson’s can also be hard on the individual and their family so support groups may be helpful. So while the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease can be hard to deal with, along with the fact that there are no cures, it is possible to cope with it and receive support.

This systematic search and reviewed three health and medically related databases to find 15 articles relating to elders with Parkinson’s disease. Of the 15 articles occupational therapy and drug therapy were used to decrease the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Some of the articles had found similar findings, but varied in different aspects.

In the Evidence-Based Analysis of Physical Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease with Recommendations for Practice and Research by Samyra Keus, Bastiaan Bloem, Erik Hendricks, Alexandra Bredero-Cohen, and Marten Munneke, the authors discuss the relationship between physical therapy and Parkinson’s Disease and also practice recommendations for physical therapists to use to improve daily functions for individuals with Parkinson’s Disease. The core areas for physical therapy in Parkinson’s Disease are identified. The article explains that first the physical therapist should assess health problems and use history taking. These steps determine the core areas that should be focused on for treatment. Next, the therapist needs to learn the expectations of