On April 11 of each year, the world celebrates the World Parkinson’s Day, with the aim of spreading awareness, promoting ways to search for new treatments, and showing support for the injured, especially as it is a chronic disease, whose treatment is long and in which the patient, in addition to the therapeutic aspect, needs psychological support. .
disease onset
Symptoms begin gradually, through the occurrence of a tremor in one of the hands, which is often imperceptible or visible, and after a while it is possible to notice a rigidity in the facial features, as the patient cannot express, with the arms not moving normally, other than the change in the level of voice expression. “The muttering”.
Symptoms
Symptoms vary from person to person, may be noticed early, may last for many years, until they can be noticed, and begin to appear on one side of the body, and include the main manifestations of the disease..
shivering
The characteristic tremor that accompanies Parkinson’s disease often begins in one hand, and appears in the form of rubbing the thumb with the index finger in a repetitive movement forward and back and is called a “disc-turning tremor”, and this is the most common symptom, but in a large proportion of Parkinson’s patients there is no tremor strong observable.
slow motion
The patient develops slow movement, the disease limits his ability to carry out voluntary movements and actions, and the patient’s steps become shorter and heavier, dragging his feet or the feet may freeze in place, which makes it difficult for him to start the first step.
imbalance
The disease affects the patient’s stature by making it convex, in addition to the patient suffering from a state of imbalance, and the patient also loses some of his involuntary movements, such as moving the arms while walking, or the ability to smile, and blink the eye, other than the presence of difficulty in speaking.
Muscle stiffness
Parkinson’s affects the muscles of the extremities, and makes them in a state of stiffness as a result of its impact on the back of the neck, which restricts the range of movement, unlike the severe pain associated with trying to move.
dementia
In the advanced stages, the patient has memory problems, and medications used to treat Alzheimer’s disease may help relieve some of these symptoms.
the reasons
The disease arises as a result of a lack of a chemical transporter in the brain called dopamine, as a result of the death of certain cells in the brain that are responsible for the production of this transporter, and some researchers believe that so far the first cause behind this disease is not known, while some of them explained that genetic changes or environmental toxins have an effect on emergence of this disease.
risk factors
The incidence of infection increases with age, young people rarely develop Parkinson’s disease, and genetic factors represent 5% of the number of infected people, and studies have revealed that men are more susceptible to infection than women, in addition to exposure to weed killers and insecticides as one of the causes of infection. .
Complications
Patients suffer from several complications, including depression, sleep disturbance, problems with chewing and swallowing, problems with urination, as well as with sexual performance, other than constipation, and some medications may cause a number of other complications such as trembling or shaking in the arms or legs, and hallucinations. Lack of sleep, and a sharp drop in blood pressure when changing position from sitting to standing.
treatment
Medicines help to overcome walking problems and control tremors by raising the level of dopamine in the brain. And the practice of physical activity in alleviating the severity of the disease.
surgery
The process of deep intra-brain stimulation is one of the most common surgical operations to treat the disease, by implanting an electrical conductor deep into the brain areas responsible for body movements, and this process is used for people who are in very advanced stages of the disease and whose condition does not stabilize even after taking medications.
Parkinson’s…a disorder of the nervous system and an effect on movement #world parkinsonism day#Riyadh_Health_Collect_Second pic.twitter.com/1gclO3PDtA
– Riyadh Health Cluster II (@Cluster2_Riyadh) April 11, 2022