What You Need to Understand about Parkinson’s Disease

Over 60,000 people are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease each year in this country, and many of these individuals are older adults.  This terrible disease affects the brain and nervous system, causing symptoms like tremors and difficulty with movement, flexibility, coordination, and balance.  When your older loved ones suffer from Parkinson’s disease, you will want to be sure that they have the proper caregiver or aide in home health care in Philadelphia, PA.  This helps to avoid dangers and risks that everyday life will now pose.  These are a few things that you should know about Parkinson’s disease and how it may affect your diagnosed elderly loved ones.

There are two groups of symptoms, and the first one is classified as motor symptoms.

All motor symptoms are related to movement issues that are caused when the brain cannot send the right signals to move the body.  This causes the muscles to never receive proper signals to move in the right ways, which can manifest itself in many ways.  Common motor symptoms include tremors, particularly in the hands, feet, and jaw, rigid muscles, unsteady walk, difficulty with balance, muscles spasms, and reduced facial expressions.

The second group is nonmotor symptoms.

Nonmotor symptoms, on the other hand, include all symptoms that are not related to movement.  These symptoms instead deal with the sympathetic nervous system, which handles body functions like digestion and heart rate.  Common nonmotor symptoms include loss of smell, difficulty with digestion, memory loss, hallucinations, loss of bladder control, difficulty chewing or swallowing, and drooling.  This group of symptoms will typically occur first in patients that end up being diagnosed with the illness.

The diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is difficult.

When it comes time to diagnose Parkinson’s disease, it can be complicated or tricky.  There is not one particular test that can quickly indicate a marker for Parkinson’s disease, which means that it may include ruling out other illnesses and performing many types of tests before a diagnosis can be made.  Diagnosing Parkinson’s disease often involves performing specific exercises, determining your risk factors, and working with a neurologist with a background in movement disorders.

There are multiple suspected causes of the illness.

Although the cause of the illness is not fully clear yet, many medical professionals have reasons to suspect a few causes.  Those who suffer from Parkinson’s disease have reduced dopamine levels in their brain, which is a neurotransmitter that transmits messages to certain parts of the brain.  When these levels are reduced, messages may never be sent.  Also, they have lower norepinephrine levels as well, and this is what causes the issues with nonmotor skills.  

These are a few things that you should understand about Parkinson’s disease and how it may affect the lifestyle of your loved ones.  If you have an elderly loved one that has recently been diagnosed with this illness, you may want to consider home health care in Philadelphia, PA to help them with everyday tasks.  Contact us to hear about our available services today.