Incidence Of Parkinsons Disease
Its estimated that approximately four people per 1,000 in Australia have Parkinsons disease, with the incidence increasing to one in 100 over the age of 60. In Australia, there are approximately 80,000 people living with Parkinsons disease, with one in five of these people being diagnosed before the age of 50. In Victoria, more than 2,225 people are newly diagnosed with Parkinsons every year.
Exercise And Healthy Eating
Regular exercise is particularly important in helping relieve muscle stiffness, improving your mood and relieving stress.
There are many activities you can do to help keep yourself fit, ranging from more active sports like tennis and cycling, to less strenuous activities such as walking, gardening and yoga.
You should also try to eat a balanced diet containing all the food groups to give your body the nutrition it needs to stay healthy.
What Happens During Parkinsons Disease
Parkinsons disease is a complicated neuro-degenerative motor disorder. It causes uncontrolled and unintentional movements due to low levels of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a chemical messenger which plays an important role in coordination and movement. During the disease, nerve cells that control movement start to degenerate. The combined effect of dopamine reduction and nerve degeneration is what results in the form of Parkinsons disease.
Almost, 1.5 million people in the U.S. have this disease currently and approximately 60,000 people are getting diagnosed yearly. The disease is general divided into five stages as follow; ;;;
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Parkinsons Disease Is A Progressive Disorder
Parkinsons Disease is a slowly progressive neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects movement and, in some cases, cognition. Individuals with PD may have a slightly shorter life span compared to healthy individuals of the same age group. According to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research, patients usually begin developing Parkinsons symptoms around age 60. Many people with PD live between 10 and 20 years after being diagnosed. However, a patients age and general health status factor into the accuracy of this estimate.
While there is no cure for Parkinsons disease, many patients are only mildly affected and need no treatment for several years after their initial diagnosis. However, PD is both chronic, meaning it persists over a long period of time, and progressive, meaning its symptoms grow worse over time. This progression occurs more quickly in some people than in others.
Pharmaceutical and surgical interventions can help manage some of the symptoms, like bradykinesia , rigidity or tremor , but not much can be done to slow the overall progression of the disease. Over time, shaking, which affects most PD patients, may begin to interfere with daily activities and ones quality of life.
What Doctors Don’t Tell You
Yes, current Parkinsons Disease treatments help the first round of Parkinsons Disease symptoms.
But they eventually “stop working,” and here’s why!
Even your neurologist may not have told you…
That the Parkinsons Disease medication eventually will cause you to have moreshaking and stiffness.
Researchers discovered that many Parkinsons symptoms are NOT actually Parkinson disease symptoms, but rather, the sideeffects of the medications used as Parkinsons Disease treatments: Levodopa, L-dopa, or Sinemet.
- Thats right, the eventual jerky SHAKING, or “dyskinesia,” is a drug side effect, often mistaken for later Parkinsons stages.;;
Dyskinesia describes jerky “involuntary” movements, stiffness, and difficult “voluntary” movements.;
- It then seems as if theParkinsons medications are “no longer doing the job”; and the disease is getting worse. But this is likely not the case.;
Consider that the meds have not just stopped working, or are “wearing off,” which they in effect do.
- But rather, that the Parkinson Disease medication actually causes;additional psychomotor and autonomic complications.;
- It turns out that the by-products of the Parkinson disease treatments in turn cause problems.;;
People who are older, or sick and move less, fail to eliminate the by-products of their medications. This causes a toxic build up so that new symptoms appear, including involuntary shaking!;
- And yes, these effects can be prevented or lessened with natural supplements!;
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How Is A Diagnosis Made
Because other conditions and medications mimic the symptoms of PD, getting an accurate diagnosis from a physician is important. No single test can confirm a diagnosis of PD, because the symptoms vary from person to person. A thorough history and physical exam should be enough for a diagnosis to be made. Other conditions that have Parkinsons-like symptoms include Parkinsons plus, essential tremor, progressive supranuclear palsy, multi-system atrophy, dystonia, and normal pressure hydrocephalus.
Hospice Eligibility For Parkinsons Disease
Due to the progressive nature of Parkinsons disease, it can be challenging for families to know when their loved one is eligible for the support of hospice care. If a loved one has been diagnosed with six months or less to live or if they have experienced a decline in their ability to move, speak, or participate in the activities of daily living without caregiver assistance, it is time to speak with a hospice professional about next steps.;
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Two Areas In Which Parkinsons Disease May Bring About Death
I. Falls
PD patients are at an increased risk of falling and bad falls can lead to death. This usually occurs as a complication of a fall that requires hospitalization, particularly if it involves surgery. While most people do not fracture their hips when they fall, some do, and hip surgery, while routine, is still major surgery. It carries the risk of infection, delirium related to pain medications and anesthesia, heart failure, pneumonia, blood clots in the legs that then go to the lungs, and general weakness from immobility. Hip fractures are probably the main cause for death for those who fall, but people can fracture other bones and require surgery. They may fracture their ribs, which leads to reduced coughing, because of the pain, and an increased risk of lung infections . It is surprisingly uncommon for Parkinsons Disease patients to die from brain injuries related to falls, but it still may occur.
II. Pneumonia
PD patients also may develop pneumonias completely unrelated to difficulties with swallowing, just like their non-PD friends and relatives.
We Know More About The Deep Oceans Than We Do Of The Brain And Weve Explored Less Than 5% Of The Oceans
We have to accept that misdiagnoses may occur, but if everyone is happy to revalidate the diagnosis, people whose condition is out of sync with this can be confident in asking their doctors to review the diagnosis and doctors can be prepared to revisit their diagnosis.
Being the best I can be
My health is pretty bad at the moment. In addition to a vast range of neurological problems, I have to manage complex gastro problems, as well as joint issues. Prior to the trigger anaesthetic of 2006, I was reasonably fit, pretty healthy and good to go at full speed until my late 80s, like my mother before me!
Now, at 62? I am innately optimistic and a glass-half-full personality so who knows what the future holds. I am lucky to have a brilliant GP, a wonderful Gastro Dude and access to neuros all of whom I believe are on-side to help me become the best I can be, from a health perspective, anyway!
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When To Seek Hospice Care
When you or your loved one have a life expectancy of six months or less, you become eligible for hospice care a type of comfort care provided at the end of life for someone living with end-stage Parkinsons disease. Hospice provides extra support so your loved one can live as comfortably as possible.
If you have experienced a significant decline in your ability to move, speak, or participate in activities of daily living without caregiver assistance, its time to speak with a hospice professional.
Read more: What is hospice care?
Some of the things that determine whether your loved one with end-stage Parkinsons is eligible for hospice include: difficulty breathing, bed bound, unintelligible speech, inability to eat or drink sufficiently, and/or complications including pneumonia or sepsis.
If you live in South Jersey, our nurse care coordinator can answer your questions and decide if your loved one is ready for hospice care. Call us 24/7 at 229-8183.
How Does Parkinsons Kill You
Most of the patients that have Parkinsons disease do not die specifically from it. Please, allow me to explain better.
As it is an affection that compromises several organs, it may trigger inadequate responses in each one of them. Nonetheless, the same diseases that cause death on healthy patients cause death on these patients.
Parkinsons patients can die from heart attacks, strokes, cancer, among other causes. Still, two specific causes are very common in these patients.
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Urinary Incontinence In People With Parkinsons Disease: Part 1
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Incontinence Hotline…Can you please hold?”
Lately, I have seen television ads for bladder control medications that are proudly showing some woman roaming around with a nagging bladder always bugging her. I think it is about time that I wrote an article about the subject of urinary urgency/incontinence in Parkinsons disease. This article does NOT just apply to the women out there with Parkinsons; it applies to the men as well!
Slice Title3 Things We Know About Parkinson’s
Parkinson’s develops when cells in the brain stop working properly and are lost over time.;These brain cells produce a chemical called dopamine.
Symptoms start to appear when the brain cant make enough dopamine to control movement properly.
There are 3 main symptoms – tremor , slowness of movement and rigidity – but there are many other symptoms too.
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Coming To Terms With Your Diagnosis
Everybody reacts to a serious diagnosis like Parkinsons disease differently. If you have been diagnosed with young-onset Parkinsons disease like I was, hearing that kind of news is like hearing the sound of a heavy steel door slam shut on your future. It leaves you feeling alone and shaken. Or, you may have simply felt a sense of relief, because after years of bouncing from one doctor to another you finally had an answer.
No matter at what age you are diagnosed, you will be challenged by the news of a disease that you may not know much about. Whatever the reaction to your diagnosis, you will need to give yourself plenty of time to process the range of emotions you will experience. In the next several months, your goal should be to think through the emotional and physical effects of your diagnosis and to learn all you can about the illness as well as the resources that can help you stay healthy, both mentally and physically.;
Parkinsons disease affects people from every walk of life, from political and religious leaders, actors and sports figures, to farmers, teachers, and members of the clergy. It does not matter if you are man or woman, although slightly more men than women are diagnosed with PD. Race, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and many other ways that society differentiates people do not make a difference. This can serve as a reminder that you are not alone, and that your PD is not a conscious choice you made.
What Causes Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease occurs when nerve cells, or neurons, in an area of the brain that controls movement become impaired and/or die. Normally, these neurons produce an important brain chemical known as dopamine. When the neurons die or become impaired, they produce less dopamine, which causes the movement problems of Parkinson’s. Scientists still do not know what causes cells that produce dopamine to die.
People with Parkinson’s also lose the nerve endings that produce norepinephrine, the main chemical messenger of the sympathetic nervous system, which controls many functions of the body, such as heart rate and blood pressure. The loss of norepinephrine might help explain some of the non-movement features of Parkinson’s, such as fatigue, irregular blood pressure, decreased movement of food through the digestive tract, and sudden drop in blood pressure when a person stands up from a sitting or lying-down position.
Many brain cells of people with Parkinson’s contain Lewy bodies, unusual clumps of the protein alpha-synuclein. Scientists are trying to better understand the normal and abnormal functions of alpha-synuclein and its relationship to genetic mutations that impact Parkinsons disease and Lewy body dementia.
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How Is Parkinsons Disease Treated
There is no cure for Parkinsons disease. However, medications and other treatments can help relieve some of your symptoms. Exercise can help your Parkinsons symptoms significantly. In addition, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language therapy can help with walking and balance problems, eating and swallowing challenges and speech problems. Surgery is an option for some patients.
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What Other Conditions Have Similar Symptoms And Signs Of Parkinsons Disease
Other neurological diseases may cause symptoms similar to Parkinsons disease. The term Parkinsonism refers to a patient that has symptoms similar to Parkinsons.
Early in the disease process, it can be tough to make an assertive diagnosis and difference between Parkinsons and Parkinson-like diseases.
Often the correct diagnosis is made after further symptoms develop, and the physician can monitor the course of the disease.
The development of additional symptoms and the course of the illness generally points towards the correct diagnosis. These are the most common neurological diseases that can produce Parkinson-like symptoms.
- Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
- Lewy Body disease or Dementia with Lewy bodies
- Corticobasal degeneration or corticobasal ganglionic degeneration
Nonetheless, doctors should think of other causes rather than Parkinsons disease when events like this happen.
- Poor response to dopamine
- Early loss of balance or vision problems
- Prominent intellectual decline dementia
- Rapid onset or progression of the disease
Actually, though it is a disease that is not clearly understood, there are specific organizations like Parkinsons UK that dedicate themselves to doing research.
These organizations look forward to following the natural course of the disease and developing clinical trials for patients in an attempt to find a cure.
Diagnosis And Management Of Parkinsons Disease
There are no diagnostic tests for Parkinsons. X-rays, scans and blood tests may be used to rule out other conditions. For this reason, getting a diagnosis of Parkinsons may take some time.;;
No two people with Parkinsons disease will have exactly the same symptoms or treatment. Your doctor or neurologist can help you decide which treatments to use.
People can manage their Parkinsons disease symptoms through:;
- seeing a Doctor who specialises in Parkinsons
- medication
- multidisciplinary therapy provided for example, by nurses, allied health professionals and counsellors
- deep brain stimulation surgery .
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What Is The Mortality Rate For Parkinsons
Parkinsons disease is the most common movement disorder. It represents the second most common degenerative disease of the central nervous system.
Studies show that this disease affects around 1-2 people out of 1000. 1% of the population over 60 years old suffers from this disease. Nonetheless, Parkinsons is very rare before 50 years old.
The diseases appearance varies considerably on different reports, probably due to discrepancies in methodological concerns or diagnostic criteria. There is an appearance of approximately 5 to 21 new cases every year per 100.000 people. Also, statistics show that there are from 18 to 328 people with this condition per 100,000 population. Still, most of the studies estimate 120 cases per 100,000 people. Parkinsons disease is about 1.5 times more common in men than in women.
Before introducing Levodopa, Parkinsons disease caused severe disability or death in 25% of patients within five years of onset, 65% within ten years, and 90% within 15 years. After introducing levodopa, the mortality rate drops approximately 50%, and longevity extends by many years.
Nonetheless, statistics from 1999 to 2017 reveal there is an increase in deaths from this cause. In adults over 65 years, old death rates increased from 42 to 65 per 100,000 population from 1999 to 2017.
Make Changes To Diet & Lifestyle
- Healthy and balanced diet means a happy bladder and bowels!
- A diet rich in veggies and fruits always helps with clean living.
- I have found that a diet rich in organic foods with less processed foods helps too.
- We get dehydrated easily! Drink fluids! Gatorade and water are great!!
- Alcohol, soda, and caffeine; can irritate the bladder, so I try to drink those sparingly.
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The 5 Stages Of Parkinsons Disease
Getting older is underrated by most. Its a joyful experience to sit back, relax and watch the people in your life grow up, have kids of their own and flourish. Age can be a beautiful thing, even as our bodies begin to slow down. We spoke with David Shprecher, DO, movement disorders director at Banner Sun Health Research Institute;about a well-known illness which afflicts as many as 2% of people older than 65, Parkinsons Disease.