"I do have a parkinson" About the most common search phrase related to the disease that the Google search engine gets from suspected net-surfers. I know that because I checked after reading a book on search engines I wait in the interminable DMV line yesterday. I absolutely need I enjoy writing what I write. I figure going to give me your valuable time to read this, I absolutely need Ow wait, what about "Love and Other Drugs"? Well if Hollywood can spawn an even half-interesting saga based on a neurological degenerative disease of the brain, to make it interesting. Neurology is not exactly the subject from where romantic comedies arise. I can at least try and keep your valuable attention in discussing this most important question. Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Inclusive Optimist, " Michael J. Fox indicated his first encounter with Parkinson & # 39; s.
In 1990 he says he woke up with a hangover and noticed a twitching in his left pinky finger. Worried, he referred to a neurologist who is improving he he probably nothing serious, perhaps a consequence of being hit in the shoulder playing ice hockey. Nothing. Unfortunately what was true back in 1990 is still true today in 2010. No blood test, spinal tap, EEG, CT The only tool left I can not confirm that someone has been diagnosed. Even with a thorough exam and interview, diagnosis can still be difficult the way starting to slowly revealing itself varies a great deal from person to person. Research on finding better ways to answer the question ear lier and with absolute certainty has not yet yielded anything yet. Recently a blood protein, EGF, was found to predict who is at risk for mental injury down road, but it 's only good for patients who already have Parkinson & # 39 ; S. But you say, "Is there a specific brain area that degenerates? Why then do you look at that area with a very powerful MRI scanner?" Even the latest generation of MRI brain scanners rarely reveal anything abnormal. Unfortunately we & # 39 ; re not talking about a big chunk of brain here.
The actual area affected is only about 5 millimeters thick and just slightly longer. MRI but there & # 39; s another problem: in most patients with the disease it remains about the same size, the important size Maybe if we know a bit more about the disease ourselves: what causes it, what areas of brain get sick, what results from these Let 's say: OK, as we are thinking through but it is possible to think about how big it could happen thinking about the situation a bit more like a neurologist. I said there 's tiny center of special brain cells that make bots of dopamine on each side of the brain. This area, the substantia nigra, the one that I said was 5 mm thick starts losing its dopamine cells. start dying off and for for apparent reason. Doctors call that The "dying cells when they & # 39" this is idiopathic "this" idiopathic "death of nerve cells in this tiny area ends up having effects all over the brain. They are so much more dopamine and like an array of microscopic perforated sprinkler garden hoses, they branch out and send dopamine-squirting projections all over the brain. Dopamine-producing nerve cells in the substantia Nigra send dopamine-squirting branches There are two more these minuscule substantia nigra regions, with each one located very deeply within each brain-half. to other regions.
One area of the brain has a huge role in the movement a need of lot of dopamine to function adequately. Made up of small movement-control centers, and collectively known as the basal ganglia, it situational heavily on this dopamine supply to function Keeping it simple, let & # 39; s for now assume it has only two essential jobs assigned to itself: the initiation of body movements and The basal ganglia neurons usually take orders from the higher brain and feedback from the, they, they, they are become there. When out of coordinated signals to the muscles of the body. impotence is the short supply they start to send out more and more disorganized and even random impulses to the muscles of the body , usually beginning on one side only.
The results include twitching, tremor, weakness, freezing or halting of movement (akinesia), slowing of movement (bradykinesia), loss of control resulting in uncontrolled movement (dyskinesia), cramping, and a gradual loss in the ability to initiate movement. # 39; s dopamine cells have died. Even with losing this many brain dopamine cells, the substantia nigra still it appear intact on That's these dying dopamine-producing cells from the substantia nigra also send dopamine-squirting projections MRI scan. Parkinson & # 39; s also not involveve disordered movement; One area called the hypothalamus regulates autonomic functions of the cardiovascular system, Another dopamine-dependent area, the limbic system presides over emotions, desires and motivated behavior. The dying dopamine-producing cells of the substantia nigra In these different potential malfunctions occur in a different sequence and to a different degree in individual patients so that you or I would present very different pictures to a neurologist evaluating us even if we both had the same disease. In Here they are in the early stages of the early stages of the early stages of the story of the early stages of the story of the early stages of the common opinion early warning signs that suggest that you that or I I have have Parkinson '
- Tremor or shaking larger on one side
- Small handwriting
- Loss of smell
- Trouble sleeping
- Trouble / stiffness in moving or walking
- Constipation
- Soft or Low Voice
- Loss of facial expression, "masked facies"
- Dizziness and fainting
- Stooping or hunching over
Two additional symptoms involve disorders of movement. Including excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and new psychiatric disorders. Anxiety and depression can appear as early as 3 to 5 years before any displacement problems I suggest the following link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2654529/
NEXT in Article 2: How neurologists make the diagnosis
