Symptoms and causes of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement. It develops gradually, sometimes starting with a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. But while a tremor may be the most well-known sign of Parkinson’s disease, the disorder also commonly causes stiffness or slowing of movement. In the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, your face may show little or no expression, or your arms may not swing when you walk. Your speech may become soft or slurred. Parkinson’s disease symptoms worsen as your condition progresses over time.

Although Parkinson’s disease can’t be cured, medications may markedly improve your symptoms. In occasional cases, your doctor may suggest surgery to regulate certain regions of your brain and improve your symptoms.

The symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease or PD are:

Tremor– A shake or tremor usually starts in a limb, often our hands or fingers. We may notice some back & forth be rubbing of our thumb & forefinger called pill-rolling tremor. 1 feature of PD is tremor of our hand when it is at rest or relaxed.

Bradykinesia or slowed movement- Over time, PD may lower our ability to move 7 slow our movement, which makes simple works also very time-consuming. Our steps may become shorter when we walk, or we may find it hard to get off a chair. We may drag our feet as we try to walk.

Rigid muscles– Stiffness of muscles may take place in any part of our body and this can limit our range of motion & cause us pain.

Impaired posture & balance– Our posture could become stooped or we could have balancing issues.

Speech changes– We may have problems in speech due to PD. We may slur, speak very soft, quickly or hesitate before talking.

Writing changes– It may become very tough to write and our writing may appear small.

Causes of Parkinson’s Disease :

Causes of PD are not known but many factors seems to play their roles including-

Our genes– Researchers have identified some specific genetic mutations which could result in PD, however, they are rare.

However, certain variations in gene appear to raise the risk of PD but with a smaller risk of PD for each of genetic markers.

Environmental triggers– Exposure to some environmental factors or toxins could raise the risk of later PD but the risk is smaller.

 Presence of Lewy bodies– Researchers have noted that several changes take place in brains of PD patients, although it is unclear why such changes take place. The changes include – Clumps of some specific elements within the brain cells are microscopic markers of PD. They are known as Lewy bodies, & researchers believed that these Lewy bodies hold an important clue to the reasons of PD