Symptoms Of Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson 's disease is a progressive neurologic degenerative disease of the Central Nervous system. The brain produces Dopamine and Norepinephrine, which are chemicals needed for smooth muscle movement and coordination, heart rate, and blood pressure. Dopamine and Norepinephrine are released by basal ganglions that are produced in a bundle of nerve cells in the brainstem called substantia nigra. In Parkinson 's patients, the substantia nigra are destroyed and neither of the chemicals can be released into the body. (3) The decrease in Norepinephrine causes heart arrhythmia and low blood pressure, causing the person to get dizzy upon standing or tire easily. The lack of Dopamine, the smooth muscle movement and coordination controller is now gone, or significantly decreased, resulting in the first signs of Parkinson’s disease, pill-rolling, a one handed tremor and a decreased appetite. (2)

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, primarily affecting voluntary, precise, and controlled movement. Parkinson’s occurs when cells in a part of the brain called the substantia nigra die off. These cells are responsible for producing dopamine. With less and less dopamine, a person has less and less ability to regulate their movements, body and emotions. The terms "familial Parkinson's disease" and "sporadic Parkinson's disease" are used to differentiate genetic from truly idiopathic forms of the disease.

Symptoms of PD are categorized into motor and non-motor areas. Motor symptoms include slowness of movement (bradykinesia), tremor at rest, stiffness in limbs and abdomen, and difficulty with balance. More minor motor symptoms could be small handwriting, shuffled walk, loss of facial expression, and decreased ability in automatic reflexes. Non-motor symptoms include mood disorders, cognitive changes, hallucinations/delusions, constipation, pain, fatigue, vision problems, reduced sensation of smell, and impulsive control

Parkinson Disease’s (PD) is defined as progressive loss of pigmented neurons or cells in the substantia nigra of the brain. These cells manufacture the molecule dopamine, a chemical responsible for regulating purposeful movements. Moreover, when the dopamine level in the brain depletes by 80 percent, the patient will begin experiencing symptoms of PD. Genetics also play a vital role in Parkinson’s development--mutations in the Leucine-Repeat Kinase 2 are its greatest contributors. Furthermore, dopamine levels progressively drop in patients with the disease; therefore, their symptoms gradually become severe as they age. Parkinson’s symptoms are categorized into primary, secondary, motor, and nonmotor. (Fallon & Cataldo, 2013)

Abnormal brain activity is caused when low levels of dopamine are decreased, which leads to symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The cause of Parkinson's disease is unknown, but symptoms of the disease are caused by low levels of a chemical in the brain called dopamine. All this information regarding Parkinson's disease is important because it gives us an understanding about what it is and who it normally involves. This disease affects the lives of many people, where it has an effect in their everyday activities. When trying to perform a certain task, their motor system interferes and creates an individual constraint which also plays a role with affecting both task and environmental abilities to perform certain activities that limits and restricts individuals motor movement. Haywood (2009) explains how every individual has their own constraints: individual, task, and environmental, but are limited when it comes to having a type of disorder. The main focus of this literature review is strictly focusing on Parkinsonian gait. Parkinsonian gait is the type of gait that is exhibited by patients who are suffering from Parkinson's disease. This disorder is caused by a lack of dopamine in the basal ganglia circuit leading to motor deficits, making gait one of the most affected motor

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement. The loss of dopamine neurons in the mid-brain substantia nigra region leads to Parkinson’s, in which a person has rigidity, slowness of movement, postural instability, and typically a resting tremor. It develops gradually, sometimes starting with a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. But while a tremor may be the most common sign of Parkinson’s disease, the disorder also commonly causes stiffness or slowing of

These tremors are most often seen in hands and the feet, but can be seen throughout the entire body. Tremors seem to be the worst when a person is a rest, but subside when a person is active, and completely disappear only when a person is sleeping. Parkinson’s people also have a significant amount of rigidity. They have what you call “cogwheel” movement, where they move in segments per say.(Parkinson’s Disease n.d.) They also have a “lead pipe” movement which as you can guess is heavy moments of the limbs. Loss of postural reflexes is another huge give away for Parkinson’s. People with this disease have a hard time standing up right, and are flexed and hunched over at all joints including the back, hips and knees. You can see the picture on the right is of a very severe case of Parkinson’s, he is showing that bent posture in all positions. Back to the lack of dopamine which I explained before was an inhibitory neurotransmitter, a patient with Parkinson’s becomes very unstable and is less able to make compensatory changes to regain their balance. Those diagnosed have a very distinguished gait pattern, which is another dead giveaway. Because they are flexed forward and have a hard time with their center of gravity, they start to shuffle their feet and fall forward, which is called festinating. There is a significant delay between planning to move and actually moving. They now require

Additional clinical manifestations of PD is speech deficits, ambulation impairment and muscle weakness (Protas et al. ; 1996, Morris, 2000, Cano-dela- Cuerda et al.; 2009). There are some psychological disorders included with PD symptoms such as anxiety, sleep disorder, fatigue and mental deficits (Morris,1996, Jankovic,2008 & Shulman et al.; 2002). Medical Treatment for

neurons in the substantia nigra in case of Parkinson’s disease, motor neurons in the motor

The neural pathway go to the caudate nucleus and putamen of the basal ganglia which is also known as the striatum. The receptors can have an excitatory or inhibitory effect depending on dopamine release by the substantia nigra. Typically, the dopamine has excitatory effects in the motor cortex which results in movement of the body. In people with Parkinson’s disease, the dopamine releasing neurons in the substantia nigra are degenerated. The

Parkinson 's disease is a chronic progressive movement disorder of the central nervous system. Early in the course of the disease, the most obvious symptoms are movement-related; these include shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement and difficulty with walking and Parkinson’s like gait (leaning forward, small fast pace steps, shuffling, etc.). Parkinson’s involves the malfunction and death of nerve cells in the brain, entitled neurons. Although damage can be spread about, it primarily affects neurons in an area of the brain called the substantia nigra. The substantia nigra controls voluntary movement, produces the neurotransmitter dopamine, and regulates mood. When taking an in-depth look into the changes a Parkinson’s patient goes through, we see symptoms clearly connecting to that of the substantia nigra malfunctioning. Parkinson’s disease is a chronic and progressive disorder of the brain primarily affecting the motor system, but also affecting thinking and emotion.

Stage one: During this initial phase of the disease, a person usually experiences mild symptoms, such as tremors or shaking in a limb. During this stage, friends and family can usually detect changes caused by Parkinson's, such as poor posture, loss of balance, and abnormal facial expressions.

Parkinson’s Disease is a neurodegenerative disorder of certain neurons that die off from brain that decrease dopamine levels. Symptoms may defer between patients. Some individuals with Parkinson’s Disease may have shaking of the hands, arms while sitting or standing or may experience loss of balance. Including difficulty in speech for example speaking softly then regularly or more monotone voice.

Some people may know what Parkinson’s Disease is but not what it is capable of. Many may not even be aware that Parkinson’s Disease exists. Michele Tagliati, Gary N. Guten, and Jo Horne explain that “Parkinson’s Disease is a disease in a group of conditions called movement disorders -- disorders that result from a loss of the brain’s control on voluntary movement” (10). With this being said, a neurotransmitter in the brain called Dopamine sends signals to regions in the brain that are the control base of balance, movement, and coordination. Unfortunately, in a patient with Parkinson’s Disease the cells that produce Dopamine die quicker than in a healthy person. The number of people afflicted with Parkinson’s is rising. “It is

Parkinson’s disease is affected by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons which is responsible to produce dopamine. Dopaminergic neurons have their cell bodies in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) in basal ganglia (O’Sullivan and Schmitz, 2007). Basal ganglia are a collection of interconnected gray matter nuclear masses deep within the brain”. These gray matter masses are caudate, putamen, globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus and the substantia nigra. Basal ganglia receive its input through striatum (O’Sullivan and Schmitz, 2007).