Parkison's Disease Essay Example

The human health encompasses of the physical, mental and psychological well-being, and when any of the three dimensions encompass a mishap or a malfunction, the human body, mind, and spirit pay the price in entirety. The Parkinson's disease is a progressive nervous system condition mostly exhibited through the impairment or difficulty in achieving simple movements of the body. Sometimes, the symptoms commence with a tremor in one hand, (tremors are the typical signage of the disorder), but the disease also causes stiffness in movable body parts or slow movement while at it. The diagnosis or rather discovery of the disease was mainly achieved through medical literature, with a physician by the name Galen in around 175 AD, describing the condition as "shaking palsy." It was not until 1817 that a concise and more detailed description and prognosis of the condition was made through the expertise medical literature work of doctor James Parkinson going by the title: an essay on the shaking palsy" that led to Parkinson's disease to be a recognized medical condition (Lees 2007). The disease was therefore named after James Parkinson. Parkinson's disease results from the death of specific nerve cells in the brain, whose function is to produce dopamine, a chemical substance responsible for the normal working of the part of the brain that controls movement.

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Effects of Parkinson on Other Body Systems.

A patient suffering from the disease is bound to experience digestion problems with some instances causing slow digestion while other causing dysfunctionality indigestion. This may, in turn, result in constipation. The digestion issues might also accrue from some medications prescribed to a patient, for example, anticholinergic. This disorder deprives a patient off some if not a lot of basic movements like scratching an itch or simply stretching an arm, and with time, the patient might experience psychological issues like poor self-efficacy, low self-esteem and in cases of psychologically at-risk individuals, destructive thoughts of themselves may arise. When approaching, for instance, a chair, freezing is experienced, and the patient tries to overcome this through exaggerated first step failure to which they will end up falling forward. They experience low blood pressure when rising from a seated position otherwise referred to as orthostatic hypotension which can cause fainting due to dizziness. It also results in bladder problem due to slow movements of ions in the body which therefore leads to frequent urinating.

Causes of Parkinson's Disease.

The disease is triggered by a gradual break down of neurons in the brain, when the nerve cells that aids in the secretion of chemical messenger within the brain" dopamine" level reduces, it results in abnormal activity in the brain (Zhang &Tan 2016). There is no particular cause of Parkinson disease, but some factors considered to be causal of the condition include:

1. Individual genes. Scientists have discovered a unique genetic mutation that can cause Parkinson's disease. These cases are uncommon, but in rare situations, Parkinson's disease is found with family members. Hence proving that specific genetic variation increases the risk of suffering from the disease.
2. Trigger from the environment: exposure to toxic compounds or substances in the environment may increase the chances of getting Parkinson disease.
3. Age: children and middle-aged people rarely experience Parkinson's disease. The disease mostly affects aged people (60 years and above).
4. Heredity: having a close relative who has Parkinson's disease increases the probability that you will develop the disease. However, the chances are still small unless you have multiple relatives suffering from the disease.
5. Gender: males have a high risk of getting Parkinson's disease than females.

Sign and Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease.

As primarily described as the shaking palsy, the dominant presentation of the Parkinson's disease includes the shaking or tremor that commences in a limb, mostly the hand or fingers. This involuntary tremors of the hand may happen when an individual is at rest.

With time Parkinson's disease may cause slowed movements, otherwise known as bradykinesia (Armstrong 2008). This makes simple tasks tedious and tiresome with some instances presenting a patient exhibiting shorter steps when they move.

Muscle stiffness or may occur, which may be painful and limit an individual's motion range.

As a result of Parkinson's disease, the posture of the patient may change, and they may have a balance problem.

Parkinson's disease may cause a loss of automatic movements for example blinking, swinging of the hands when in motion or smiling.

Parkinson's disease may cause a speech change. You may hesitate or speak softly before talking.

Diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease has no specific test. An expert in the nervous system (doctor), will diagnose the condition based on the patient's medical history, review of your sign and symptoms, neurological and physical examination. The doctor may suggest a single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) called dopamine transporter (DAT), but this depends on symptom and neurological tests (Weiner 2016). Most of the patients don't like the scan because it is a psychological sing posting on the probability of having the Parkinson's disease. The attending physician may also order lab tests for example blood test to call off other conditions that may be causing the symptoms.

Complications.

At the late stage of Parkinson's disease, a patient may experience thinking difficulties and cognitive problems (dementia), this problem is not responsive to medications.

As the conditions progress, the patient may develop swallowing problems. Saliva may start drooling due to slow swallowing.

In the Late stages of Parkinson disease, muscles of the patient's in the mouth are affected making chewing a difficult task.

People with Parkinson disease have a sleep problem, they wake up frequently at night, waking early or sleeping during the day.

Some patients may end up depressed even sometimes in the very early stage of the disease.

Many patients with Parkinson's disease have a bladder problem, and hence they may be unable to control urine or may difficult in urinating.

Parkinson's diseases patients may develop constipation problems due to the slow rate of digestion.

Treatment and Side Effects.

At the early stage of Parkinson's disease, the doctor may prescribe amantadine alone, and at the late stage of Parkinson's disease, it may be specified together with carbidopa-levodopa therapy so that it can control the involuntary movement (Fahn 2008). Many patients find Parkinson's drugs to be very efficient when they start taking them, but later the medication develops some side effects to the patient. These side effects might include the wearing off of tissues and dyskinesia, hallucinations and impulsive and compulsive behavior.

In 2017 researchers at Binghamton University attempted to come up with a new drug meant to limit the progression of Parkinson's disease (Binghamton University 2017). The research team including Professor Chris bishop and graduate student David Lindebach. They compared the effect of dopamine against ropinirole to their original drug known as D-512, and the result demonstrated that their drug (D-512) is more effective compared to ropinirole in controlling Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a disease that imposes a significant threat to the society at large. It's an incurable disease with considerable danger to humankind. It exhibits symptoms that can be associated with a stroke as it affects one free mobility and a lot of problems to body system like being unable to hold urine and constipation resulting from poor digestion. As the cliche goes, prevention is better than cure. The human being should, therefore, take care of the environment by avoiding disposal of toxic substances to enable control and prevent this incurable disease. Everyone should play a responsible role in ensuring that the environment is uncontaminated, and is in better condition to keep tomorrow's generation safe from Parkinson's disease.

References

Armstrong, R.A. (2008). Visual signs and symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Clinic Exp. Optom.

Binghamton University (2017). New drug may treat and limit the progression of Parkinson's disease. Medical express. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-07-drug-limit-Parkinson-disease.html

Fahn, S. (2008). The history of dopamine and levodopa in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Movement Disorders

Lees A.J. (2007). Unresolved issues relating to the shaking palsy on the celebration of James Parkinson's 250th birthday". Movement Disorders.

Weiner William (2016). Parkinson Disease World Book Online. World Book Advanced.

Zhang, J. &Tan, L.C. (2016). Revisiting the Medical Management of Parkinson's Disease "Levodopa versus Dopamine Agonist". Current Neuropharmacology. 14 (4): 356-363.