Parkinson's disease: symptoms

Symptoms of Parkinson's disease are manifested in the form of impaired motor function: trembling of the head, hands, increased muscle tone, constrained movements, stoop.

At the initial stage of the disease, the symptoms are one-sided, progressing with time. Ultimately, at the last stages of the disease a person becomes practically immobilized, with strong mental disorders.

Typically, the symptoms of Parkinson's disease are one-sided and meager-either an episodically occurring resting tremor in one of the limbs (most often the arm) or slow motion. The tremor amplitude can be quite high, and the frequency is about 4-6 Hz. For the first time, shaking can be seen when the patient walks or holds a book or newspaper in his hand. The tremor decreases with movement, but increases with excitement. The disease can also be manifested by the slowness of limb movements, the weakening of waving movements with hands while walking, trembling of the foot, bent pose, shuffling gait. The handwriting becomes smaller, the delicate movements of the hands, in particular manipulation with objects, become more difficult. There is a depletion of spontaneous movements, especially facial expressions. 1-2 years after the appearance of the first symptoms, the movements become even more difficult, the symptoms become bilateral, the balance is maintained. A person can feel instability, unsteadiness, especially when he makes his way through the crowd, and any impulse can easily lead him out of balance.

Symptoms of Parkinson's disease that are characteristic only for this disease and for the most part do not appear in other neurological diseases. Patients with Parkinson's syndrome find it difficult to get out of bed without the help of others. Strong psychological shock, it does not matter, joyful or not, a little relaxes the muscles, making the movements more relaxed. In the morning, the patient's motor activity is easier, and closer to the evening is difficult. A patient with parkinsonism has a stiffness in his muscles, a violation of his gait. The patient is having difficulty with all the usual movements. For example, if a person with Parkinson's disease is pushed, he starts running, it will be very hard for him to stop, and it does not matter if he runs forward with his face or back. Continue running will be until the patient does not stumble upon the obstacle.

With the course of the disease, the rigidity of the muscles (hardening) increases. The patient becomes stooped, arms and legs bend, the head leans forward. When you try to unbend the patient's hand, nothing happens, because the muscles are strongly resisted. You can achieve the desired result only by small jerks. The movement of the facial muscles is also difficult - the characteristic expression is stiff in the patients.

The main manifestations of Parkinson's syndrome include hand trembling. Everything begins with fingers on hands, with time the tremor rises higher, affecting hands, head, lower jaw, tongue, sometimes the legs are affected. When you move, tremor is not as noticeable as in a calm state. Quite a strong tremor can be observed with a high mental strain of the patient. During sleep, trembling in the limbs practically does not bother the person.

People with Parkinson's disease also suffer from seizures of the sebaceous glands. Their skin becomes fat, sweating is worse, dandruff appears. One of the manifestations of parkinsonism may be urinary incontinence.

Further progression of the disease leads to an indifferent state in the patient. It becomes harder for him to control his own body, he practically ceases to move. There is a narrowing of horizons, interests, a decrease in emotional manifestations. It is very difficult for the patient to switch from one thought to another.

[1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

The first symptoms of Parkinson's disease

The first sign of the beginning of the disease is the change in handwriting - small and clumsy letters indicate the need to visit a neurologist. If you notice a twitching of your fingers on your arm - then you need to urgently consult a doctor. The first symptom of the disease can become stiffness of the muscles. Most often there is stiffness of the musculature on the face, the so-called masked expression. In some cases, the frozen expression remains forever. Blinking in patients with parkinsonism occurs much less often, they talk slowly, sometimes words are incomprehensible to others.

The first symptoms of Parkinson's disease are almost impossible to notice, and very often they are confused with the manifestation of diseases of a completely different kind. For example, hands remain stationary while walking, there is a slight tremor in the fingers, a minor speech disturbance begins. Patients are susceptible to insomnia, depression, feel a frequent decline in strength. People with Parkinson's syndrome find it harder to do ordinary daily activities, for example, take a shower, shave, make dinner.

First there is a shiver in the fingers, hands. Sometimes there is an irregular movement of the middle or big fingers, similar to rolling something invisible. There may be tremors in the legs. Such symptoms can appear on one half of the body, and can be symmetrical. In a stressful state, the tremor increases, and in a dream almost completely disappears. Despite the fact that trembling causes considerable inconvenience to the patient, this manifestation of the disease does not indicate a loss of incapacity.

To the slowness of the movements in the early stage of the diseases, with time, unease, coordination disruption. The hardening of the muscular musculature of the legs makes it almost impossible to perform simple actions.

Hardening or rigidity of muscles usually affects the neck and limbs, as a result, a person can become stiff in an unnatural position for a healthy person (the head is turned to the side sideways, the arm is bent, etc.). Sometimes stiffness restricts movement and delivers rather unpleasant, painful sensations.

With progressive parkinsonism, especially at later stages, there is an inability to keep balance. Automatism of movements also disappears. Movements that a healthy person performs at a subconscious level, in addition to his will: blinking, movement of hands while walking. In full or in part, such movements disappear in people suffering from Parkinson's. On the face, most often, there is a frozen expression of concentration, almost unblinking eyes. It occurs that, besides mimicry, gesticulation is lost. In many patients speech disturbance begins, intonations disappear, the voice becomes monotonous and quiet. There is a violation of swallowing and salivary function. Such symptoms of Parkinson's disease appear at later stages of development. Patients are already hard to eat independently, although there are rare exceptions.

A small percentage of patients with Parkinson's syndrome are susceptible to dementia. The symptom most often occurs with a neglected form of the disease. This is associated with a slow process of thinking, an inability to concentrate.

Progression of Parkinson's disease goes through 5 stages: 

1. The first signs of the disease occur most often in the right side of the trunk and have a weakly expressed character. 
2. Symptoms spread throughout the body (limb tremor) 
3. There are difficulties in walking, standing, trying to hold a pose. 
4. The motor activity is essentially limited, the patients are most often moved by the help of others. 
5. Full immobility.

Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease in Children

The average age of the disease is approximately 57 years. With rare exceptions, the disease affects at an earlier age. Juvenile (juvenile) parkinsonism is a very rare form of the disease that occurs before the age of 40. A pediatric subspecies of the disease is distinguished, characteristic for the age of 6 to 16 years. In this case, typical symptoms of Parkinson's disease - is a violation of the tone of the foot. Juvenile Parkinsonism is a hereditary disease. Its difference from Parkinson's disease in old age is the slow rate of disease progression. This form of the disease does not entail a pronounced memory disorder, attention, disturbances from the autonomic nervous system (sudden pressure surges, sebaceous gland dysfunction, dryness of the palms, etc.). Also, the coordination movement is less pronounced.

Development of symptoms of Parkinson's disease

The disease of Parkinson begins to develop much earlier than the first clinical manifestations. The first signs of the disease begin to manifest itself in a stressful or extreme condition. As the person calms down, the symptoms of Parkinson's disease disappear. The manifestation of the disease in such cases is expressed by a slight hand trembling or the appearance of a slight tonus of the musculature. After the appearance of the first signs, the clinical manifestations of the disease are quite a long time. Because of this, the onset of the disease is almost impossible to determine in time. The first symptoms of the disease are so small that often the patient himself can not give a logical explanation to his condition. This is what causes the untimely diagnosis. Quite often, patients at the initial stage of the disease are put completely different diagnoses. Only after the symptoms become more pronounced, it is possible to determine the correct diagnosis. Parkinsonism gradually "bends" the person: the body and head are propelled forward, arms and legs are half-bent. There is a restriction in the facial muscles, often a person with Parkinson's disease has a stiff expression. Slow down, and eventually completely disappear arbitrary movements, complete immobility of the trunk sometimes occurs quite early. The gait becomes unhurried, shuffling. Sometimes involuntary running can begin, back and even to the sides (usually due to a push, the person runs, as if trying to catch up with his center of gravity, until he comes across an obstacle). Similar actions occur when trying to sit or stand up. Practically the hands do not move when walking, speech becomes quiet, without any intonations in the voice, "fading" in the end. Trembling in the hands is typical, but not mandatory for patients with Parkinsonism. It manifests itself in involuntary trembling of the hands, fingers, lower jaw, tongue. Finger movements can be expressed in counting invisible coins, rolling an invisible ball. There is an increase in tremor in the wakeful states, which practically disappears during the sleep period. To mental disorders include loss of initiative, interests, reduced emotional expression, sluggish thinking. There is also the inability to react quickly when switching from one thought to another.

The manifestation of the clinical picture is reduced with the use of medications at the first stages of the disease. Unfortunately, drug treatment is becoming ineffective in the progressive form of Parkinson's syndrome. In some cases negative dynamics in treatment was noted even in the early stages. Parkinson's disease is incurable, medications only help delay the appearance of severe symptoms.

Contribute to the manifestation and further development of Parkinson's syndrome in the main three factors: 

• Age changes.
• Heredity.
• Unfavourable conditions.

In humans, the tone of the musculature is controlled by special centers called basal ganglia, in which a special substance, dopamine, is produced. Due to the content in the cells of dopamine, a person is able to control movement, maintain a certain posture. Every 10 years, about 8% of cells in the brain die with the content of dopamine in the brain. Parkinsonism begins when the total number of cells is less than 20%, and their number is rapidly declining during the progression of the disease. People with hereditary predisposition are subject to the disease (in this case the chances are doubled). The hereditary factor not only triggers an accelerated process of cell death in the brain, but also promotes early launch. In genetically non-predisposed people to Parkinson's syndrome, the content of dopamine approaches the critical mark in a rather old age. In people prone to developing Parkinson's syndrome, the basal ganglia has a higher sensitivity to the appearance of various external factors (unfavorable conditions, toxic substances, infections), so the process of cell degeneration is faster and begins much earlier. Scientists have not found out until now whether there is a chance to suspend the course of the disease.

To help those suffering Parkinson's syndrome, the doctor needs to solve two important tasks: to reduce the manifestation of symptoms and to contain the dying of the dopamine-containing ganglion. For people with Parkinson's syndrome, it is considered useful to take vitamin E and moderate exercise. In the early stages of development of parkinsonism, medicinal preparations can not be used (it is advisable not to do this as long as possible). Drug treatment begins, usually, when external manifestations of the disease do not allow the patient to perform the usual actions (domestic or professional), because of the limitation of motor activity. Usually the symptoms of Parkinson's disease are eliminated by drugs amantadine, levopod, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, etc. All drugs are addictive, so for an effective result, doses periodically increase, which causes side reactions. Individual symptoms, for example, depression, anxiety, insomnia, are eliminated with sedatives.

Alternative medicine is also widely used to combat this disease. In the early stages of development of parkinsonism, it is recommended to take a decoction of oats: 3 liters of water are taken on a glass of uncooked grains, cooked on low heat in enameled utensils for about an hour. Prepared in this way, the broth is drunk like ordinary drinking water during the day (healing properties last for two days, then a new portion should be brewed). The course of treatment is 3 months. Effective action has fresh squeezed spinach juice.

Symptoms of Parkinson's disease appear individually, in each case. The manifestation of some symptoms at an early stage of the development of the disease in one person, may be completely absent in another. It is worth noting that the early symptoms of Parkinson's are similar to those of some other neurological diseases, most of which are well treatable.

[6], [7], [8], [9]