Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms

The motor function of the person affected with Parkinson’s disease is the target. The primary symptoms would include the voluntary and involuntary motor functions of the body. Over time, as the disease progresses, the symptoms can be uncontrollable. It starts from mild manifestations then into incapacitating, as what most affected person would say. These are the motor symptoms that PD patients experience:

Tremors

These tremors are the first discoverable symptoms of PD patients. It includes the trembling of the fingers, hands, arms, feet, jaw, or head. A resting tremor is a common manifestation. It can be worsened by feeling of excitement and stress.

Rigidity

Body stiffness is usually associated with pain and muscle aches. This is described as stiffness of the limbs and the trunk that results to losing one’s hand movement. One of the presenting symptoms that would help us conclude that the patient is experiencing PD symptoms is the change in handwriting. When the patient’s handwriting seemed to have changed into a cramped one, called micrographia, literally meaning small handwriting.

Bradykinesia

Bradykinesia is slowed movement in layman’s term. As the condition progresses, the patient will have a hard time moving in the regular pace that he/she had from the past. This symptom is experienced when one is about to initiate a movement or when the patient is completing one.

Mask-like Appearance

The patient is expressionless. This is primarily because of the stiffness that would now affect the facial muscles.

Postural Instability

Maintaining one’s balance would bring much more effort to the affected person. This may lead to accidents such as falls and tripping over.

Change in Gait

The gait of the individual affected is entirely changed. The more progressive the disease, the more prominent the change in gait is. This is described as the distinctive rapid shuffling walk with a stooped position (festination).

There are also some disturbances in the patients mind. As the condition progresses, it is possible that speech is altered. The ability to comprehend may be altered in some way. The thought and behavioral processes are affected thus expecting mood difficulties with the patient. Their attention and cognitive speed may be slow and their ability to recall things may take a longer time than it used to be.

Other systems of the body are also affected by this disorder. The patient may experience urinary incontinence, constipation, including insomnia and easy drowsiness. The patient’s eyes may have a decreased blink rate, resulting to dry eyes. The patient would complain of vision impairments too.

Parkinson’s Disease Causes

Dopamine, root of our motor movements, is a neurotransmitter that is produced by our brain’s substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area. This neurotransmitter is released by the “go signal” our hypothalamus. But a person who is suspected to have Parkinson’s disease would most likely have a defective substantia nigra. A low amount of dopamine can be very fatal. The communication between the substantia nigra and other dopamine-producing cells would bring to greater dopamine loss. As a result, this will give the patient movement-related symptoms.

This disease in most individuals came from an unknown cause. Still, 15% of cases are acquired from their family history. Those people who have family members who suffer from Parkinson’s disease may inherit the gene trait for this condition. Scientists have identified several genes that said to be the culprit of this disease. In their study they have identified 5 namely: SNCA, PARK2, PARK7, PINK 1, and LRRK2.

Another cause of this condition is stress. Scientists have pointed this out especially to the so-called oxidative stress. This would result to free radicals formation, which normal, but the brain and body would get rid of them. The abnormal production of free radicals can be a toxin and can cause damage to tissues of the brain and its neurons.

External and internal toxins such as; manganese, carbon monoxide, carbon disulfide and pesticides have been suggested too by scientists as causative factors for this condition. Their action may be to selectively destroy the dopaminergic neurons, thus causing Parkinson’s disease.

Person who have been treated for severe paranoia and schizophrenia have been identified to manifest in the later future a Parkinson-like condition. This is called Parkinsonism. These persons ingest drugs that have precipitated them to have the same symptoms a person with Parkinson’s disease experiences.

Normally or mostly the affected population for this condition is the old. The theory is supported by the loss of our brains protective mechanism as we grow old. With an increasing age, the primary effect would be degenerative.