August 2000 Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's Disease, Queries, Quibbles & Quotes Effective Ways to Cope When it comes to personal lifestyle, mobility is probably one of the most important aspects of one's physical capacity because it is essential to the existence and maintenance of one's independence. The ability to stay active, mobile and flexible in our day-to-day routines are all integral components of the quality associated with our lifestyles. For persons diagnosed with Parkinson's disease maintaining a quality lifestyle can be both challenging and stressful. Its symptoms can effect just about every activity of our lifestyle that we often take for granted. Daily tasks that were once performed without difficulty or much effort are now major threats to one's independence and mobility. Parkinson's disease poses many physical, functional and psychological barriers in our lives that we must adapt to and overcome. Many of these challenges are very taxing on the person and can have long term effects on one's outlook on life. One of the primary objectives of this article is to provide you with an informative overview of this disease that will hopefully allow you to make sound decisions with treatment options, life style changes, and home modifications. As is the case with any disease the primary goals of dealing with such illnesses should be to seek appropriate diagnosis, receive tailored treatment to meet one's specific needs, and to educate oneself about the disease in order to maximize one's personal lifestyle. Let's begin by reviewing some of the diagnostic characteristics of the disease. Understanding Parkinson's Disease and its Effective Management Parkinson's disease is a common progressive, degenerative disease of the brain and nervous system. Symptomatically, Parkinson's disease causes a gradual loss of control over one's movement and balance. Like other diseases, it is often referred to a "progressive degenerative" disease due in part because it gradually gets worse over time, effects the brain cells and destroys the tissue to the point where one loses their ability to function normally. A London physician named James Parkinson first described Parkinson's disease in 1817. The degenerative symptoms that he described are the hallmark characteristics of the disease that will be reviewed later in this article. The degeneration of nerve cells in the brain (or neurons) that he first described affects the region of the brain that controls movement. It is believed that this degeneration creates a shortage of one of the brain chemicals, known as transmitters, causing impaired movement. |