Parkinson’s Disease And Multiple Sclerosis: Conditions And Differences
Its important to note that, while both Parkinsons and multiple sclerosis are diseases of the CNS, they dont originate in the same way. MS is an autoimmune disease, brought on by the immune system attacking myelin, the protective coating over the nerves in the CNS that also speeds up signals. This affects mainly the brain and spinal cord, though it can also affect the optic nerve as well. In Parkinsons disease, the neurons in the brain die off without any known attack, with the lack of dopamine they produce leading to the onset of the disease. This doesnt affect nerves in the spinal cord.
Other notable differences include:
How Are They Alike
MS and Parkinsonâs both affect your central nervous system, which includes your brain and spinal cord. Thatâs why they both can affect how you move, sleep, feel, and talk.
These diseases both affect your nerves. MS can break down the coating, called myelin, that surrounds and protects your nerves. In Parkinsonâs, nerve cells in a part of your brain slowly die off.
Both can start out with mild symptoms, but they get worse over time.
Common symptoms of both diseases include:
- Shaky fingers, hands, lips, or limbs
- Slurred speech thatâs hard for others to understand
- Numb or weak limbs that make your walk unsteady
- Loss of muscle control that often affects one side of your body at first, then later both
- Spastic limb movements that are hard to control
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
- Poor balance
Depression is another symptom common to both conditions.
Key Brain Changes Are Different
The key brain changes linked to Parkinsons disease and Parkinsons-related dementia are abnormal deposits of common brain proteins, called alpha-synuclein. These deposits are known as Lewy bodies, named after the doctor who discovered them. As more of these proteins clump in the brain, normal brain cells begin to die off.1
In Alzheimers disease, the key brain changes include the buildup of different brain proteins, called amyloid and tau. When amyloid proteins clump together, they form abnormal structures known as plaques. Abnormal groups of tau proteins form tangles.3 Over time, the buildup of these proteins causes normal brain cells to die, and affected parts of the brain may shrink.5
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Preventing And Treating Depression After Stroke
A recently published Cochrane review examined trials that looked at interventions to prevent depression after stroke. They found 12 trials that fulfilled the criteria for inclusion . None of the included drug trials indicated a prophylactic effect of antidepressant medication, compared to placebo. However, one trial of psychotherapy had a small but significant effect size.
Since that review was published, a more recent study has compared the effect of early versus late antidepressant treatment on a functional outcome measure in 62 stroke patients. They found that early, prophylactic treatment led to an enhanced functional outcomean effect that persisted over the two years of the study.
Treatment trials have indicated that SSRI treatments and other antidepressants are superior to placebo. There have also been small trials supporting the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Brain Changes In Essential Tremor
Neuropathologists have studied the brains of people with essential tremor after their death. The results are suggestive;but conflicting. Some people have described changes in the cerebellum, a region of the brain commonly associated with movement and coordination. Furthermore, some studies have described a higher chance of finding Lewy bodies, usually considered to be a sign of Parkinson’s disease, in part of the brainstem known as the locus coeruleus.
Some pathologists believe that these are signs that essential tremor may be a neurodegenerative illness along the lines of Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease. Other studies have found that people with essential tremor may be at an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and progressive supranuclear palsy. Perhaps there is a common predisposition towards neurodegeneration that links tremor with these other disorders.
On the other hand, others state that the increased risk of developing other diseases may be simple misdiagnosis meaning that perhaps some people who initially were said to have essential tremor had an unusual presentation of Parkinson’s or another known movement disorder. These researchers believe that there is no current need to call essential tremor degenerative itself.
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Legal Help For Cerebral Palsy
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How Can People Manage Parkinsons
When it comes to managing dyskinesia and tremors, its important to strike a balance between too much medication and too little. You can have too much dopamine medication , which can make dyskinesias occur earlier and can make them worse once they start, says Herrington. Then theres the effect of not enough dopamine medication, which can leave people with this off, slow, stiff feeling.
The person and the caregiver and loved ones need to be aware of the necessary trade-offs that are involved, he continues. Only then can you make an informed decision on how best to move forward.
The more people know about the treatment options for Parkinsons, the better off they tend to feel. There may be a situation where a patient feels very uncomfortable in the off state but the spouse is bothered by dyskinesias, Herrington says. I share with that we cant necessarily find the perfect dose that gives your partner relief from the slow, stiff, off symptoms and causes no dyskinesias. For some patients, finding that middle ground is very difficult.
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What Is Motor Neuron Disease
Motor neuron disease is a serious medical condition which causes progressive weakness and eventually the death due to respiratory failure or aspiration. The annual incidence of the disease is 2/100000, which indicates that the disease is relatively uncommon. In some countries, this disorder is identified as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis . Individuals between 50 to 75 years of age are usually the victims of this disease. In MND, sensory system is spared. Therefore, sensory symptoms such as numbness, tingling and pain do not occur.
What Is The Difference Between A Parkinson’s Disease Patient With Dystonia And A Dystonia Patient With Parkinson’s Symptoms
Parkinson’s disease is a neurological movement disorder with a wide array of symptoms that includes slowness of movement, rigidity of muscles, tremor, loss of balance, memory impairment, personality changes, and others. The movement symptoms of Parkinsons disease may be called parkinsonism. Parkinsonism is one aspect of Parkinsons disease.
Symptoms of dystonia and parkinsonism can occur in the same patient because both of these movement disorders seem to arise from involvement of the basal ganglia in the brain. Both parkinsonism and dystonia can each be caused by a great many disorders, and some of these disorders includes features of both parkinsonism and dystonia.
For example, there are the disorders known as dopa-responsive dystonia and x-linked dystonia-parkinsonism . DRD commonly begins in children as a dystonia predominately affecting the feet and being first manifested by an abnormal gait. In these children, features of parkinsonism tend to develop such as slowness of movement and also decreased muscle tone.
When DRD begins in adults, it usually appears first as parkinsonism and can be mistaken for Parkinson’s disease. XDP can also first develop as either dystonia or parkinsonism, and the symptoms of other disorder may occur.
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Treatment Of Rls In Pd
Regardless of the above discussion, it is clear that many people with PD have difficulty falling asleep because of annoying sensations in the legs accompanied by a sometimes unbearable sense of restlessness in the legs. For these people, taking dopamine agonists before bed can be helpful. Caution is in order, of course, because in some patients with PD, especially older or more advanced patients, these medications can cause confusion and hallucinations and are thus not well-tolerated. A long-acting levodopa formulation or medications such as gabapentin, gabapentin enacarbil and pregabalin can also be effective. Trying to address sleep issues such as RLS in patients who have sleep complaints can be an important aspect of maximizing therapy for PD.
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Symptoms Of A Stroke Vs Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease and stroke are neurological conditions that many people confuse with each other because they can both cause physical disability and they both tend to affect people who are over 70 years old. If you have questions about the similarities and differences between a stroke and Parkinson’s disease, below you’ll find answers to the most common questions and concerns.
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Suicidal Behaviour In Ms
Suicidal ideation is very common in MS. In one study, a quarter of clinic attenders with MS had suicidal ideation sometime in the week before their attendance. Around 3% of people with MS will kill themselves. A study of the cause of death in 3000 people with MS over 16 years indicated that 15% of the deaths were recorded as suicide. Other studies have confirmed this increased risk and indicated that additional risk factors for suicide in MS include being male, young age of onset, previous history of depression, social isolation, and substance abuse. A study comparing MS patients with and without lifetime suicidal ideation could distinguish the groups by severity of depression, social isolation, and alcohol abuse. This study also noted that patients with suicidal ideation often were not in receipt of psychiatric evaluation.
The differential diagnosis of depression in MS includes adjustment disorders, paroxysmal changes in mood , and mood changes in relation to drugs for MS.
A number of drugs used to treat MS or its symptoms have been implicated as risk factors for low mood. There are case reports of steroid induced low mood in MS and other disorders. All the anti-spasticity drugs have been associated with low mood . There are also case reports of psychiatric changes following the abrupt discontinuation of baclofen and other anti-spasticity drugs. This means that history taking in respect to depression should include a detailed drug history.
Classification Of The Neurological Disorder Based On Oculomotor Abnormalities
Figure 4. Results of STP-based clustering analysis for the entire tested population. Principle Component Analysis : all the spatio-temporal features available from SONDA were used as an input for the PCA. The resulting components were processed with t-SNE to represent the high-dimensionality dataset into a lower-dimensionality space for clustering purposes. Computation of the optimal number of clusters using the elbow method with the Within-clusters Sum of Squares as a parameter. Result of the k-means clustering algorithm applied to the outcome components of t-SNE.
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A New Blood Test That Might Help With Diagnosis
Researchers recently discovered a blood test that can detect a specific protein found in the blood of Parkinsons patients but not MSA patients. The protein, known as alpha-synuclein, is produced in nerve cells in the brain and can be detected in the blood. It is one of the proteins that accumulate and damages the brains of people with both MSA and Parkinsons. However, the protein collects in different cells in the brain, depending on which disease it is.7
What Is Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
Progressive supranuclear palsy is a rare brain disorder that causes problems with movement, walking and balance, and eye movement. It results from damage to nerve cells in the brain that control thinking and body movement. The disorders long name indicates that the disease worsens and causes weakness by damaging certain parts of the brain above nerve cell clusters called nuclei that control eye movements.
PSP is different than Parkinsons diseaseanother movement disorderalthough they share some symptoms . Currently there is no effective treatment for PSP, but some symptoms can be managed with medication or other interventions.
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Scales Used To Measure Depression In Parkinsons Disease
As mentioned above, symptoms of idiopathic PD have considerable overlap with those of depression. This means that standard rating scales for depression may not be valid in this situation. Rating scales for depression may be loaded with somatic or vegetative symptoms, which reduce their validity.
Three rating scales have been tested using a clinical interview with operationalised diagnosis as a gold standard. Using receiver operating curves, the sensitivity and specificity at a given cut off point can be calculated. From this methodology, it is clear that the Beck depression inventory is not a useful rating scale in PD. The Montgomery and Asberg depression rating scale and the Hamilton depression scale have performed better. In summary, diagnosis of depression should be made clinically, using appropriate diagnostic criteria, with severity or response to treatment being measured using MADRS or HAM-D.
Common Misdiagnosis: Multiple Sclerosis
One of the most common answers to the question was multiple sclerosis . Both diagnoses have an effect on the central nervous system. These diagnoses also frequently cause muscle spasms, balance changes, tremor, and impaired memory. However, these are two separate diagnoses.
One difference is that MS is often diagnosed when someone is in their 20s, while most people receive a PD diagnosis in their 60s. Also, MS is an autoimmune disease that over time causes nerve damage. Parkinsons affects the brain. The brain starts producing less and less dopamine, which is responsible for controlling movement.
Yes, with MS which I was worried about for years, but right now I do not know which one is worse. However, my meds are helping a lot. My new saying is It is what it is, aka just live on. My neurologist says that I have stage one mild Parkinson’s disease.
My husband was diagnosed with MS back in 1993 when he had a mini stroke. He was diagnosed with Parkinsons in 2014.
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Characteristics Of Restless Leg Syndrome
There are certain features of RLS that make it a unique and specific disorder.
Can A Stroke Cause Parkinson’s Disease
A stroke can cause some symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, but not Parkinson’s disease itself. This condition is called Parkinsonism. Parkinsonism is associated with many of the same movement problems of Parkinson’s disease, such as tremors and stiffness. However, it usually does not worsen over time as Parkinson’s disease does. If a stroke causes brain damage in the area of the brain that is associated with Parkinson’s disease, then Parkinsonism can occur.
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How Do You Diagnose These Diseases
Both diseases can be difficult to diagnose, and they require a neurology workup and medical history. You might have some brain imaging or blood tests to rule out other causes for your symptoms.
For MSA, doctors will test your autonomic functions, like how well you produce sweat and how well your body maintains a stable blood pressure when you stand up after sitting or lying down.5 Parkinsons doesnt have a specific test for diagnosis. Sometimes doctors will prescribe anti-Parkinsons medication and diagnose Parkinsons if it helps improve your symptoms.1
Pool Therapy For Multiple Sclerosis Patients
Multiple Sclerosis is a condition that weakens muscles and movements over time. Thus, strength training early and often is one of the key ways to keeping the muscles from weakening. However, this can be understandably difficult for someone who has difficulty walking, picking up a fork to eat or simply waving hello. For Multiple Sclerosis sufferers, the HydroWorx therapy pool can be a place for them to more easily build lean muscle mass than would ever be possible on land. Even if they cannot walk down the street comfortably or safely, they can walk on a treadmill in the water without fear. Not only are they protected by the innate buoyancy of the water, but they are given a psychological boost because they arent afraid to fall.
In a case study that was recently done in Great Britain, a woman with Multiple Sclerosis was treated in the HydroWorx pool. She had complained of progressive weakness in her upper and lower left limbs during a two-year period. She had to walk with a cane, and tended to favor one of her legs over the other. This was causing serious gait problems.
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