Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson’s disease, or parkinsonism, presents with an array of neurological symptoms: rest tremor, slowness of movement (bradykinesia), stiffness that seems to affect the muscles or joints (rigidity) and loss of balance (postural instability).  None of these symptoms alone establishes the diagnosis, and not all are present when parkinsonism begins.  Other problems commonly arise: memory impairment (dementia), depression, difficulty walking with risk of falling, abrupt loss of flexibility (freezing), or loss of ability to care for oneself.  Incidence of parkinsonism increases with age, and men are affected more frequently than women

Most patients with parkinsonism respond well to medications, which help replace a chemical, dopamine, which brain cells no longer can synthesize. The disease slowly progresses, and with that progression, additional or more medications are needed.  Eventually, patient may no longer respond well to drugs, and neurosurgical treatment may be indicated.

While the search goes on for a major environmental cause of parkinsonism, scientists have mapped several mutations which account for the familial incidence of parkinsonism, and many sporadic cases.  Research offers the hope of identifying the cellular causes of this disease and of new drugs, which may arrest its progress.

You may find these sites of additional interest:

National Parkinson Foundation

The American Parkinson Disease Association

Parkinson disease.