Parkinsons Q&A

Parkinsons?

I would like to know how people diagnosed with parkinsons cope in the mid-term of it.

Public Comments

1. I am not sure how to cope but my mom had a freind who was diagnosed with parkinsons and years later found out it was lime's disease. I tell everyone that knows someone who has been diagnosed with parkinsons since for many years thats what all the doctors swore it was. I hope you or who ever been diagnosed the best of luck.
2. Have a look at http://www.cureparkinsons.org.uk/Parkinsons/default.asp or http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/advice/newly_diagnosed.aspx
3. It depends on the person. My mother-in-law has lots of gadgets to help her like a scooter, hospital bed, hand rails on the walls, very few rugs. She has also hired a maid.
4. There are medications that help control the disease plus some good support from caretakers and family members.
5. Parkinson's disease is an idiopathic, slowly progressive, degenerative CNS disorder characterized by slow and decreased movement, muscular rigidity, resting tremor, and postural instability. Diagnosis is clinical. Treatment is with levodopa plus carbidopa, other drugs, and, for refractory symptoms, surgery. Please see the web pages for more details on Parkinsons disease.
6. You may have seen the actor Michael J. Fox on TV talking about Parkinson's disease. He has Parkinson's disease and has founded an organization to educate people about it and help find a cure. Mostly adults - like Fox and boxer Muhammad Ali - get Parkinson's disease, which is a disorder of the central nervous system. The central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord, controls everything you do, including moving. A person with Parkinson's disease gradually loses the ability to totally control body movements. In the very deep parts of the brain, there is a collection of nerve cells that help control movement, known as the basal ganglia. In a person with Parkinson's disease, these nerve cells are damaged and do not work as well as they should. These nerve cells make and use a brain chemical called dopamine to send messages to other parts of the brain to coordinate body movements. When someone has Parkinson's disease, dopamine levels are low. So, the body doesn't get the right messages it needs to move normally. A medicine called levodopa is often given to people who have Parkinson's disease. Called "L-dopa," this medicine increases the amount of dopamine in the body and has been shown to improve a person's ability to walk and move around. There are other drugs that also help decrease and manage the symptoms of Parkinson's disease by affecting dopamine levels. In some cases, surgery may be needed to treat it. The person would get anesthesia, a special kind of medicine to prevent pain during the operation. http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/brain/disorders/187.html
7. My mum was diagnosed 7 years ago, and copes really well, she takes tablets 7X per day, 2 different kinds. My mum has diverticulitis also and life is difficult, going out is a problem but we cope as a family. She shakes, but it is on the inside, not visible to others. She has been told to pull herself together, I wish it was that simple ! With family help we cope very well, SO FAR........