Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements, such as shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination
This is a disease of the central nervous system which mainly affects the motor system. This disease starts gradually and eventually gets worse as time goes on.
Some persons do refer this disease as old related, reason being that most people who suffers from this disease are between the age of 60 and above.
Parkinson disease happens when the nerve cells in the basal ganglia becomes weak or dies. This nerve cells are designed to produce a chemical known as dopamine which controls a lot of functions including movement.
Also it has been understand that people who suffers from Parkinson disease has lewy bodies in their brain cells which is actually a cluster of protein called alpha-synuclein.
Scientist are yet to understand why the presence of alpha synuclein could lead to such effect.
Causes of Parkinson's disease
genetic:
It has been proven that some causes of Parkinson's disease could be related to gene factor though it is uncommon.
Some gene has been identified to have a higher chances of developing Parkinson disease unlike others.
Environmental factors is another important factor which could result to someone coming down with this disease. Some chemical inhalation and other related environmental pathogens has a higher chances of causing Parkinson disease.
Age
Like I said earlier, age factor matters when we talk about this disease. Most people who suffers from this disease are between the age of 60 and above.
It is quite difficult to see a young person suffering from it except in health related condition like side effect of prolonged use of drugs and all that.
Parkinson disease is also known to be hereditary. If peradventure most members of your family are suffering from this disease, that means there is higher chances of you coming down with in future.
Pathophysiology
The main pathological characteristics of PD are cell death in the brain's basal ganglia (affecting up to 70% of the dopamine-secreting neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta by the end of life).[68] In Parkinson's disease, alpha-synuclein becomes misfolded and clump together with other alpha-synuclein. Cells are unable to remove these clumps, and the alpha-synuclein becomes cytotoxic, damaging the cells
Once gotten to the cell damaging stage a lot of symptoms starts showing up which includes:
Thinking difficulties
People who suffers from Parkinson disease finds it very difficult to think, which we can actually refer as dementia. The brain can no longer be able to coordinate.
Depression is another thing that might eventually take place. People with this disease have been discovered to suffer from depression.
Another obvious signs of this disease is difficulty in swallowing and chewing food. People who suffers from this disease normally have issues with the muscles that helps in chewing food substances. Other issues includes bladder problem, sleeping difficulty and constipation.
Diagnosis of Parkinson's disease
Recently, there are no blood test that can actually fathom if someone is actually suffering from this disease or not.
Most times, the doctor performs a neurological check in other to know if the person is having Parkinson or not.
Another way which we can check if the person is suffering from this disease or not is by checking the persons medical history. This can actually help in determining if the person has Parkinson or not.
Treatment for Parkinson disease
As of today, there is no particular cure for Parkinson disease. Some drugs and treatment given helps to reduce the effect of this disease.
The main therapy for Parkinson’s is levodopa. Nerve cells use levodopa to make dopamine to replenish the brain’s dwindling supply. Usually, people take levodopa along with another medication called carbidopa
Another medication that could also be very important is the use of dopamine agonist which helps in the stimulation of dopamine.
Also Amantadine is another medication which could also help in the reduction of involuntary movement.
Conclusion
Parking disease is a disease we cannot actually tell the major reason why people do come down with it. But I believe there are things we can be doing as an individual to help us reduce the rate at which we come down of this ailment.
One of them is by the intake of antioxidant like vitamin C and E and other things like exercising our body through out our middle age of life.