Parkinson's Disease: The Overshadowed Disease

Each year more than 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PDF, 2014). That sixty thousand does not include the many thousand cases that go undetected each year. Parkinson’s is a progressive disorder that occurs in the nervous system. This disease affects a person’s movement. Parkinson’s disease develops progressively. The most common first sign of Parkinson’s is slight shaking of a body part. In the initial phase of Parkinson’s a person will experience slurring of speech and an expressionless face (Mayo Clinic, 2014). With time, the symptoms of Parkinson’s exacerbate. This disease is most frequently seen in people over the age of 50 (PDF, 2014). Parkinson’s disease is generated by a great number of reasons.

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).

The World Health Organization projects that, by 2040, neurodegenerative diseases will become more common than cancer (Cashell, 2014). Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is widely listed as the second most common neurodegenerative disease (Wuong, 2012; Gillies et al., 2014; Cashell, 2014; Walker, Davidson, & Gray, 2012). This disease, usually characterized by a tremor, but featuring systemic effects, has been diagnosed in one to two percent of people over age 65 (Casey, 2013). Parkinson’s disease is incurable; the goal of the healthcare team is to help the patient to maintain function, independence and quality of life (Miertová et al., 2014; Magennis, Lynch, & Corry, 2014). In the discussion that follows, current understanding of the causes and treatment of PD will be summarized, along with examples of nursing interventions.

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.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder of the central Nervous system and affects both motor and nonmotor functions. parkinson 's is caused by a chemical imbalance within the brain. The brain produces a neurotransmitter called dopamine in the basal ganglia, which is structures linked to the thalamus in the base of the brain. If the Dopamine, Basal ganglia and Thalamus does not function properly then causes major damage,. A person having less and less dopamine, the individual has less and less ability to regulate their movements, body and emotions. Although there is no current cure available for Parkinson’s disease, the debilitating conditions can be lessoned through education, therapy, and a variety of treatments to improve their quality of life on the National Parkinson Foundation website.

Parkinson Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease symptomized by tremor, muscular rigidity, and slow imprecise movements. Typically, the disease affects middle-aged and elderly individuals. PD is associated with degeneration of the basal ganglia of the brain causing a deficiency of the neurotransmission of dopamine.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Two other names for PD are shaking palsy and Paralysis agitans. Parkinson’s disease is initiated when the cells in the brain that produce dopamine die over time. Dopamine is a brain chemical used by nerve cells that helps to control the body 's muscle movement. Without those brain cells and the dopamine they produce, it becomes increasingly more difficult for the cells that control movement to send messages to the muscles; affecting the body’s movement. As time goes on the damage worsens. There is not a known cause as to why these brain cells die, although there are a few theories ("MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia:

Parkinson’s disease affects the brain of the individual. The disease affects the neurons in the brain that are responsible for producing dopamine. “In short, a person 's brain slowly stops producing a neurotransmitter called dopamine. With less and less dopamine, a person has less and less ability to regulate their movements, body and emotions” (“Understanding”). This leads to the symptoms frequently associated with Parkinson’s. While Parkinson’s disease is experienced differently in each case, there is a generic order in which the disease develops. There are five main stages that can be experienced. Not every patient will reach all stages, and the severity and rapidity varies. As the stages develop, the symptoms increase from mild and manageable, to intense.

When people hear Parkinson’s disease they think, “Isn’t that what Michael J Fox has?” For those who are asking who Michael J Fox is, he was Marty McFly in “Back to the Future” movie and he played on many other TV programs who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at an early age and has set up an organization to research Parkinson’s disease. What the Michael J Fox Foundation found out 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, Dystonia is so much like the other disorders that many people have never heard of it. The purpose of this paper is to inform as many people as possible

Parkinson's disease is neurodegenerative brain disorder that affects the brain and nervous system. When someone get Parkinson's it slowly develops in most people who get the disease. PD or Parkinson’s Disease affects people when they start to reach 60 years old. When a person is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease the brain slowly stops producing a neurotransmitter called dopamine. The less dopamine a person has the harder it is to control their abilities to regulate their emotions and body motions. Imagine not having any control of your hands, legs, arms, and emotions… heartbreaking. There is currently no cure for Parkinson's disease right now but with your help and donations made out to the michael J. Fox

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,

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,

causes or attributing factors to Parkinson disease pesticides, toxins, chemicals genetic factors head trauma. The person most at risk to Parkinson disease are males, males are slightly more likely to develop Parkinson's disease compared to females. The treatment available for Parkinson disease is surgery, surgery is an option to treat Parkinson s disease symptoms, but it is not suitable for everyone. There are strict criteria and guidelines on who can be a candidate for surgery and this is something that only your doctor and you can decide when performing deep-brain stimulation surgery, the surgeon places an electrode in the part ofthe brain most effected by Parkinson's disease. Electrical impulses are introduced to the brain, which has the