Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is an age-related brain deterioration that affects the muscle's control, movement, and balance and results in a range of effects on the senses.
Benefits of Parkinson’s Disease Treatment
- Initial and proper treatment helps improve motor function and also alleviate symptoms such as tremors, rigidity, and bradykinesia, and leads to better control of movement
- Effective treatment allows one to maintain a higher level of independence and engage in daily activities more comfortably
- Proper treatment helps manage non-motor symptoms like depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances, and enhances overall well-being
- Some treatments may help slow the progression of Parkinson's disease, and possibly extend the period of manageable symptoms
- Therapy and medication can help individuals maintain better posture and mobility, reducing the risk of falls, accidents, and injuries
- Treatment can improve speech and swallowing difficulties often associated with Parkinson's disease, allowing one to have better communication and nutrition.
If someone is suffering from Parkinson's disease and wants to seek improvement, they can consider consulting the best doctors at Arete Hospitals, the best Parkinson's Disease Treatment Hospital in Hyderabad.
Causes of Parkinson’s Disease
The only confirmed cause of Parkinson’s disease is genetic predisposition. If not, the disease is classified by the experts as idiopathic- a disease with an unknown cause. Many researchers believe that Parkinson’s disease is a result of a combination of heredity and environment- such as exposure to harmful toxins.
Parkinson’s disease causes deterioration of nerve cells in the basal ganglia- a specific part of the brain involved in movement coordination. Researchers uncover that Parkinson’s disease causes a major shift in brain chemistry.
This includes a decline in dop-amine levels. Dop-amine is a neurotransmitter that brain cells require to fine-tune bodily movements by sending activation signals to muscles for movement. Thus, a drop in dop-amine levels causes slowed body movements and tremor symptoms that are associated with Parkinson’s disease. With the progression of Parkinson’s disease, the symptoms of the disease worsen. In the later stages of the disease, the brain functioning gets affected resulting in depression and dementia-like symptoms.
Other than dop-amine, there is even a loss of norepinephrine because of the loss of nerve endings that produce it. Norepinephrine is a chemical messenger of the sympathetic nervous system that takes control of heart rate and blood pressure. It might explain the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease such as sudden drop in blood pressure when sitting or lying, fatigue, and reduced movement of food in the digestive tract.
For more information on causes of Parkinson’s Disease, contact the Best Parkinson's Disease Treatment Doctors in Hyderabad at Arete Hospitals.
Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms
The main signs of having Parkinson’s disease are motor-related, including:
- Tremors in legs, hands, arms, head, or jaw while muscles are at rest
- Slowed body movements (Bradykinesia)
- Rigidity or stiffness in muscles, in cases where muscles contract for a long period
- Impeded balance and coordination causing unstable body postures or gait walk and sometimes resulting in falls.
Other motor-related symptoms of Parkinson’s disease resulting from loss of muscle control are:
- Drooling
- Less often blinking
- Small or cramped handwriting (micrographia)
- No or little change in facial expressions (hypomimia)
- Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)
- Troubled chewing and speaking.
The non-motor symptoms include:
- Skin issues
- Depression and other changes in emotions
- Urinary incontinence
- Loss of sense of smell (anosmia)
- Sleep problems such as rapid eye movement behaviour disorder, restless leg syndrome, and periodic limb movement disorder
- Difficulty thinking and focussing
- Orthostatic hypotension (drop in blood pressure while standing)
- Gastrointestinal problems such as constipation
- Sexual dysfunctions.
Parkinson’s Disease Treatment
The treatment of Parkinson’s disease can vary from one patient to another, depending upon the condition severity, specific symptoms, and how effective the treatment is. One can contact Best Neurosurgeon in Hyderabad for more details on their treatment options.
Medications
The primary approach to treat Parkinson’s disease is the use of medication. The treatment with medication directly targets Parkinson’s disease or just the disease symptoms to treat certain effects of the disease. Medications that can help directly treat Parkinson’s disease include:
- Levo-dopa- It is a precursor of dop-amine that can be used to increase levels of dop-amine in the brain.
- Dop-amine agonists- These are the medications that behave just like dop-amine by latching onto the brain cells. They are commonly given to younger patients to delay their use of levodopa.
- Dop-amine metabolism blockers- These are the drugs that help prevent the natural breakdown of dop-amine by the body and allow dop-amine to remain in the brain. They are beneficial for the early stages of Parkinson’s disease and even effective along with levodopa to treat the later stages of the disease.
- Levod-opa metabolism inhibitors- These medications can help the levodopa effect to stay longer by delaying the way the body processes levodopa. They are only given when levodopa becomes less effective.
- Adenosine blockers- These medications can help block certain cells of the body using adenosine. They are supportive drugs when used in combination with levo-dopa.
Several medications can treat symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. These include medications that can target the following symptoms:
- Sleep problems
- Fatigue
- Anxiety or Depression
- Dementia
- Constipation
- Erectile and sexual dysfunction
- Hallucinations and other symptoms of psychosis.
Surgery (Deep Brain Stimulation)
A secondary treatment approach is surgery. This involves surgical placement of electrodes into the part of the brain (basal ganglia) and connecting the ends of electrodes to a small device implanted into the chest that delivers mild electric current to the brain. The device and electrodes painlessly stimulate specific parts of the brain that controls movement. This treatment is known as deep brain stimulation. The major benefit of performing this operation is that it is reversible. It can almost always be the best option to use this approach in treating late stages of Parkinson’s disease or treat cases where the tremors fail to respond to usual medications. Consult Best Doctors for Parkinson's Disease Treatment in Hyderabad at Arete Hospitals for more details.
Experimental Treatments
Some of the experimental treatments known for Parkinson’s disease are:
- Transplantation of st-em cells- St-em cells can add new dop-amine using neurons in the brain to replace damaged ones.
- Treatments for neuron repair- These include treatments that can help repair damaged neurons and promote the formation of new neurons.
- Gene-targeted treatments or gene therapies- Such treatments target specific gene mutations known to cause Parkinson’s disease. Some of these treatments could even boost the effectiveness of levodopa and other treatments.
Visit Arete Hospitals for more details on Best Parkinson's Disease Treatment in Hyderabad.
- Massage therapy to reduce fatigue or tension
- A healthy, balanced diet for an overall well-being
- Physical, speech, and occupational therapies to treat gait and voice disorders, rigidity and tremors, and decline in mental functions
- Exercising to strengthen the muscles and improve flexibility, balance, and coordination
- Yoga and tai chi to stretch the body and increase flexibility.
1. How do doctors diagnose Parkinson’s disease?
Diagnosis involves relying on the physical examination- including examining symptoms, asking questions, and reviewing the medical history of the patient. Other than examination, doctors conduct some diagnostic and lab tests to rule out other possible conditions. These include blood tests, genetic testing, and imaging tests such as MRI, CT scan, and PET scan. Consult Best Parkinson’s Disease Doctors in Hyderabad at Arete Hospitals for more details on diagnosis and treatment for Parkinson’s.
2. How common is the condition?
Overall, Parkinson’s disease is a very common condition. It ranks second among age-related neurodegenerative diseases. It is even the most common movement-related (motor) brain disease. Statistically, it is reported that at least 1% of people aged above 60 years globally suffer from Parkinson’s disease.
3. Who does it affect the most?
The risk of developing Parkinson’s disease is the most in aged persons, one an average 60-year-olds. It affects mostly men more than women.
4. Is it contagious?
No. Contagious diseases are those that one can contract from a diseased individual through direct contact. Parkinson’s disease cannot be transmitted to a healthy individual.
5. How long will it take to recover after receiving treatment for Parkinson’s disease?
The time taken to fully recover and visualise the full effects of Parkinson’s disease treatments strongly depends upon the type of treatments, the condition’s severity, and other factors.
6. How can I prevent Parkinson’s disease or reduce its risk?
There is no way to prevent or reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease as it happens because of genetics or unpredictable reasons.
7. How should a patient take care, if they have Parkinson’s disease?
The best way is that the patient must follow the guidance of the healthcare provider. This includes taking prescribed medications to manage symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, setting up a meeting schedule with the doctor as recommended, and not neglecting or avoiding the symptoms.
8. Is Parkinson’s disease a fatal condition?
No. Parkinson’s disease can only turn out to be fatal when it causes other life-threatening conditions or problems.
9. Is there any cure?
No, Parkinson’s disease is not curable. This means it is a lifelong condition. However, the disease is treatable and many treatments are highly effective. The treatment might even help delay the progress of the disease and more serious disease symptoms.
The cost of Parkinson's Disease treatment in Hyderabad can vary based on several factors, including the severity of the condition, type of medication prescribed, frequency of doctor visits, and additional therapies such as physiotherapy or speech therapy.
Contact Arete Hospitals for more details on Parkinson’s disease treatment!
