symptoms of parkinsons disease : A Brief Look At Parkinson's Disease

The primary cause for developing the Parkinson's disease is the widespread damage of the dopamine-producing cells in a person's brain. Once the rate of damage rise up to 80% the risk against Parkinson's disease is inescapable.

This condition is a brain disease. Once the nerve cells in the substantia nigra, a part of the middle brain, die or become impaired, the production of the dopamine will diminish. Dopamine maintains the coordination and the smooth functioning of the body movements. If this condition occurs, other brain movement control centers become unchecked. This is the major reason why people affected with Parkinson's disease are experiencing shaking or tremor, slowness of movements, stiffness or rigidity and incapability of maintaining body balance. Other symptoms may include:

- Firm facial expression
- Small handwriting or micrographia
- Depression
- Muffled speech
- Irregular walks
- Reduced automatic movements

The initial symptoms of the disease are mild and may not even need to be attended medically. The most common sign of the disease is the rest tremor, but not all patients develop tremor. Unlike other symptoms, tremor does not seriously disable a person's usual activities but it is the most damaging if viewed on the psychological interpretation. a patient needs to hold onto something to gain control over the trembling hand or to put them in a secured place, like the pocket of the pants.

Symptoms are normally restricted on a single limb in the first phases of the disease. But they eventually affect the other half of the body. Most patients are aware of this nature of the disease, and this knowledge makes the condition even more unbearable (both physically and psychologically) which often leads to over-monitoring of their cases.

Women and men are at equal standing against the risks of developing the disease. In America, the present number of Parkinson's disease victims is near to 2 million. This makes it the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease after the Alzheimer's disease.

Though the disease is more prevalent during the later years of a person's life, specifically age 65, individuals aged 50 comprises 15% of people diagnosed of the disease. And one in a group of 100 people is potential of developing the disease.

The diagnosis of the Parkinson's disease is complex. There are no ways that a person may be identified as a patient with blood tests and x-rays and other conventional methods of diagnosis. Often, a neurologist may only arrive at a result once a thorough MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging is complete. However, MRI is helpful only in separating the symptoms of Parkinson's disease with other neurological and brain disorders.

A number of medicines may be taken to diminish the occurrence of the symptoms of the disease. Most of these are aimed at replacing or copying the effects dopamine have over the abnormalities associated with the dopamine insufficiency in the brain such as rigidity, slowness and tremor. Newer researches are focused on finding the solution to control the progress of the disease and many are promising to bring new improvements to patients inflicted with Parkinson's disease.

Surgery is one solution that experts consider in Parkinson's disease treatment. However, it is not the answer to cure the disease. Because brain surgery is risky, it is usually placed at the bottom priority unless all necessary medications taken failed. It is important that both a brain surgeon and a neurologist are first consulted for the pre-treatment procedures.

Modern-day medicine has not yet found ways to cure the Parkinson's disease. Diagnosis would only identify if the person has it and how to minimize and control the symptoms. It is not aimed at banishing the disease itself.

Robert Thatcher is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides Parkinson's disease resources on http://www.about-parkinson-disease.info

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