Glen has been noticing his hands shaking when conducting daily activities such as signing his signature. He is 45 years old and his family also notices that he shuffles when he walks and muffles his speech when talking to them. He is seen by his family doctor and is diagnosed with Onset Parkinson’s Disease. This is something that can affect his day to day living tremendously. By shaking his morning cup of coffee to the point of chattering against his teeth, to taking a shorter step then normal with a bit of a jolt along with it. He can also find it difficult to thread that needle to sow his fishing hat, or to thread the hook to even go fishing. There are all sorts of difficulties that he can face with this sort of disease, and a lot of different aspects that are affected with this as well.
Early Onset Parkinson’s is usually diagnosed with patients that are 21-50 years old. Even though Parkinson’s is traumatic at any time of life, being diagnosed with it at an early age can thoroughly impact a young person’s quality of life and of their family around them. Most diagnosis of Parkinson’s is with patients around the age of 60 years old, so younger people can be misdiagnosed or even undiagnosed for some time. At this point, doctors have not found a cure for this disease. Only about 10 to 20 percent of people with this disease are diagnosed at an early age. Some symptoms include confusion, memory loss, and problems with balance. They may also experience problems with involuntary movements such as jerking or tics that they have now control over. It could be due to the disease, or to a prevention medicine is called levodopa.
The specific cell type that is affected by Parkinson’s Disease is nerve cells in deep parts of the brain called Basal Ganglia and Substantia Nigra. The neurotransmitter dopamine is produced in the substantia nigra with is responsible for relaying messages that control and plan body movements. Dopamine is a molecule that sends messages to allow certain nerve cells to communicate between each other. Dopamine is super critical to the central nervous system functions such as movement, pleasure, attention, mood, and motivation. Figuring out about dopamine’s role in Parkinson’s Disease changes the field of neuroscience and was able to allow a breakthrough in treating this disease. They found norepinephrine to be a striking resemblance to dopamine with is another naturally occurring prevalent throughout the central nervous system (Parry, Susan 2015). Norepinephrine is a hormone that also helps with burning fat, so along with finding the pleasures in life through natural dopamine, you will become thinner than normal. The dopamine-producing nerve cells of the substantia nigra start to die off with Parkinson’s disease, and once 80 percent of dopamine is lost, Parkinson’s symptoms such as tremor, slow movement, stiffness, and balance problems occur. The synapse of reduced dopamine creates all of this, so blocking the breakdown action of MAO-B can slow disease progression. Also blocking the neurotransmitter glutamate can increase dopamine release. As I mentioned earlier, the drug levodopa can reduce movement problems like tremors, stiffness, slowness, and problems walking. That’s why Glens doctor would prescribe him with a dopamine agonist to raise his level of dopamine. Our body movement is controlled by a complex chain of interconnected nerve cells called the ganglia. Information goes to the central area of the brain called the striatum, that works with the substantia nigra to send impulses backs and forth from the spinal cord and the brain. So, when the basal ganglia and cerebellum are affected by Parkinson’s, movements cannot be carried out in a smooth, fluid manner (Mayfield Brain and Spine, 2019).
The cause of Parkinson’s disease it not yet known to an extent. However, Parkinson’s disease has crossed over several generations of families throughout the years that could indicate that certain forms of the disease are genetic and/or hereditary. Many researchers think that it can be caused by external factors along with gene pool within the family. As they are continuously working towards the cause or causes of Parkinson’s, the thought of genetics is always number one (American Parkinson’s disease Association, 2019). There are secondary forms of Parkinson’s disease that can be caused by medications as I stated earlier with levodopa. But other medications can cause it as well, such as haloperidol which is used to treat confusion and hallucinations, reserpine which helps with hyper-tension, and metoclopramide which is simply an anti-nausea drug (Mayfield Brain and Spine, 2019). Self Care is the best treatment along with the medication. Maintaining balance and range of motion with your muscles can give you back control of the muscular system. Same as any prevention plan for any type of disease, a good healthy diet, and an according fitness plan, will help keep you safe from disease.
-Cyral I Callender III
References:
American Parkinson’s Disease Association. (2019). Early Onset Parkinson’s Disease. Retrieved from: https://www.apdaparkinson.org/what-is-parkinsons/early-onset-parkinsons-disease/
Mayfield Brain and Spine. (2019) Parkinson’s Disease. Retrieved from: http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/pe-pd.htm
Nall, Rachel RN, BSN, CCRN. (Jan 7, 2018). What is Early-onset Parkinson’s. Retrieved from: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320527.php
Perry, Susan. (Oct 22, 2015). Dopamine and Movement. Retrieved from: http://www.brainfacts.org/thinking-sensing-and-behaving/movement/2015/dopamine-and-movement
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