It’s imperative that we should proactively adapt and strive for a strategy that helps us to stay away from inevitable health issues, especially in old age. Early diagnosis will enable us to prevent, manage and cure well. Just look around: have you seen someone among your elderly friends or family members getting very slow in their routine tasks? Are they having these issues: Tremors, shuffling gait, getting stuck in a freezing position, finding it difficult to start or stop an on-going task, long period of time to complete simple tasks, increase in frequency of fall, balance and coordination issues or an inability to express desires and emotions?
If yes, then he or she should visit a physician to check for it could be a case of Parkinson’s disease? Early awareness and better knowledge about the disease may enable acting proactively. So what is Parkinson’s disease? It’s a neurodegenerative brain disorder. Degeneration of structures such as Substantia Nigra of Basal Ganglia (that produces Dopamine) may lead to this disease. The causes are not clear. Genetic predisposition, environmental factors such as herbicide, smoking, exposure to MPTP, history of head injuries, infection, involvement in sports such as boxing, rugby, etc. have been documented so far. Parkinson’s disease is relatively common in old age and is more prevalent in males.
Diagnosis
Detailed history of events and information from family members is important. UK Brain Bank Criterion, Hoehn and Yahr Disability Scale, Unified Parkinson’s disease Rating Scale, CT scan or MRI scan may abet in the process of diagnosis. It’s important to differentiate with other diseases such as progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple system atrophy and cerebral stroke affecting Basal Ganglia.
Clinical Motor Presentations
This story is from the February 2018 edition of Dignity Dialogue.
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This story is from the February 2018 edition of Dignity Dialogue.
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