Parkinson's Disease - Symptoms.

Symptoms of Parkinson's disease manifest themselves in the form of impaired motor function: trembling of the head, hands, increased muscle tone, constrained movements, stooping.

At the initial stage of the disease, the symptoms are one-sided, progressing over time. Ultimately, in the last stages of the disease, the person becomes practically immobile, with severe mental disorders.

Typically, the symptoms of Parkinson's disease are unilateral and scanty - either episodically appearing tremor at rest in one of the limbs (most often the hand), or slowness of movement. The amplitude of the tremor can be quite high, and the frequency is approximately 4-6 Hz. Tremor may be first noticed when the patient is walking or holding a book or newspaper in his hand. Tremor decreases with movement, but increases with excitement. The disease may also manifest itself as slowness of limb movements, weakening of swinging movements of the arms when walking, trembling of the foot, a hunched posture, and a shuffling gait. Handwriting becomes smaller, fine hand movements become difficult, in particular manipulation of objects. Spontaneous movements, especially facial expressions, become impoverished. One to two years after the appearance of the first symptoms, movements become even more difficult, the symptoms become bilateral, and balance is impaired. A person may feel unsteady, unsteady, especially when making his way through a crowd, and any jolt can easily throw him off balance.

The symptoms of Parkinson's disease are characteristic only for this disease and, for the most part, do not manifest themselves in other neurological diseases. Patients with Parkinson's syndrome find it difficult to get out of bed without help from others. A strong psychological shock, no matter whether it is joyful or not, relaxes the muscles a little, making movements more relaxed. In the morning, motor activity is easier for the patient, and towards evening it becomes difficult. A patient with Parkinsonism has muscle stiffness, gait disturbances. The patient finds it difficult to perform the usual movements for all of us. For example, if a person with Parkinson's disease is pushed, he will start running, it will be very difficult for him to stop, and it does not matter whether he runs forward facing or backwards. The running will continue until the patient runs into an obstacle.

As the disease progresses, muscle rigidity (hardening) increases. The patient becomes hunched over, arms and legs bend, and the head tilts forward. When trying to straighten the patient's arm, nothing will work, since the muscles offer strong resistance. The desired result can only be achieved with small jerks. Movement of the facial muscles also becomes difficult - patients tend to have a frozen expression.

The main manifestations of Parkinson's syndrome include hand tremors. It all starts with the fingers, over time the tremors rise higher, affecting the hands, head, lower jaw, tongue, and sometimes the legs are affected. When moving, the tremor is not as noticeable as when calm. Quite strong tremors can be observed with high mental stress of the patient. During sleep, tremors in the limbs practically do not bother a person.

People with Parkinson's disease also suffer from dysfunction of the sebaceous glands. Their skin becomes oily, sweating increases, and dandruff appears. One of the manifestations of Parkinsonism can be urinary incontinence.

Further progression of the disease leads to an indifferent state of the patient. It becomes more difficult for him to control his own body, he practically stops moving. A narrowing of horizons, interests, and a decrease in emotional manifestations are noted. It is very difficult for the patient to switch from one thought to another.

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The first symptoms of Parkinson's disease

The first sign of the onset of the disease is a change in handwriting - small and crooked letters indicate the need to visit a neurologist. If you notice trembling fingers on your hand, then you need to urgently consult a doctor. The first symptom of the disease may be muscle stiffness. Most often, stiffness of the muscles on the face is observed, the so-called mask-like expression. In some cases, the frozen expression remains forever. Blinking in patients with Parkinsonism occurs much less often, they speak 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, the hands remain motionless when walking, a slight tremor in the fingers occurs, and a slight speech disorder begins. Patients are prone to insomnia, depression, and often feel a loss of strength. People with Parkinson's syndrome find it harder to do ordinary daily activities, such as taking a shower, shaving, or cooking dinner.

At first, trembling appears in the fingers and hands. Sometimes there is an arrhythmic movement of the middle or thumb, similar to the rolling of something invisible. Tremors in the legs may occur. Such symptoms may appear on one half of the body, or they may be symmetrical. In a stressful state, trembling intensifies, and in sleep it almost completely disappears. Despite the fact that trembling causes significant inconvenience to the patient, such a manifestation of the disease does not indicate loss of incapacity.

Slowness of movement at the early stage of the disease is accompanied by awkwardness and loss of coordination over time. Hardening of the leg muscles makes it almost impossible to perform simple actions.

Hardening or rigidity of muscles most often affects the neck and limbs, as a result, a person can freeze in an unnatural position for a healthy person (head tilted to the side, arm bent, etc.). Sometimes rigidity restricts movement and causes rather unpleasant, painful sensations.

With progressive Parkinsonism, especially in the later stages, there is an inability to maintain balance. Also, the automatism of movements disappears, i.e. movements that a healthy person performs on a subconscious level, against his will: blinking, hand movements when walking. Such movements completely or partially disappear in people suffering from Parkinson's. The face most often has a frozen expression of concentration, an almost unblinking gaze. It happens that, in addition to facial expressions, gesticulation disappears. Many patients begin to have speech impairment, intonations disappear, the voice becomes monotonous and quiet. There is a violation of the swallowing and salivary functions. Such symptoms of Parkinson's disease appear at later stages of development. It is already difficult for patients to eat on their own, although there are rare exceptions.

A small percentage of people with Parkinson's syndrome are susceptible to developing dementia. The symptom most often occurs in advanced stages of the disease. It is associated with a slow thinking process and an inability to concentrate.

The progression of Parkinson's disease goes through 5 stages:

1. The first signs of the disease most often appear in the right half of the body and are mild.
2. Symptoms spread throughout the body (tremors of the limbs)
3. Difficulty appears when walking, standing, and trying to maintain a position.
4. Motor activity is significantly limited; patients most often move with the help of others.
5. Complete immobility.

Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease in Children

The average age of the disease is about 57 years. With rare exceptions, the disease affects at an earlier age. Juvenile (adolescent) parkinsonism is a very rare form of the disease, occurring before the age of 40. There is a children's subtype of the disease, typical for the age of 6 to 16 years. In this case, the characteristic symptoms of Parkinson's disease are a violation of the tone of the foot. Juvenile parkinsonism is a hereditary disease. It differs from Parkinson's disease in old age - a slow rate of progression of the disease. This form of the disease does not entail pronounced memory impairment, attention, disorders of the autonomic nervous system (sharp pressure surges, disorders of the sebaceous glands, dry palms, etc.). Also, the violation of the coordination of movement is less pronounced.

Development of Parkinson's disease symptoms

Parkinson's disease begins to develop much earlier than the first clinical manifestations. The first signs of the disease begin to appear in stressful or extreme conditions. 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 tremor of the hands or the appearance of a slight muscle tone. After the first signs appear, quite a long time passes before the clinical manifestations of the disease. 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 the patient himself often cannot give a logical explanation for his condition. This is the reason for the untimely diagnosis. Quite often, patients at the initial stage of the disease are given completely different diagnoses. Only after the symptoms become more pronounced, it is possible to determine the correct diagnosis. Parkinsonism gradually "bends" a person: the body and head are pushed forward, the arms and legs are half-bent. There is a limitation in the facial muscles, often a person with Parkinson's disease is characterized by a frozen expression. Voluntary movements slow down and eventually disappear completely, complete immobility of the body sometimes occurs quite early. The gait becomes unhurried, shuffling. Sometimes involuntary running forward, backward and even to the sides may begin (usually occurs due to a push, the person runs, as if trying to catch up with his center of gravity, until he runs into an obstacle). Similar actions occur when trying to sit down or stand up. The arms practically do not move when walking, speech becomes quiet, without any intonation in the voice, "fading" towards the end. Tremors in the hands are typical, but not obligatory 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. Increased tremors are noted during anxious states, which practically disappear during sleep. Mental disorders include loss of initiative, interests, decreased emotional expression, slowness of thinking. There is also an inability to react quickly when switching from one thought to another.

The manifestation of the clinical picture decreases with the use of medications in the early stages of the disease. Unfortunately, drug treatment becomes ineffective in the progressive form of Parkinson's syndrome. In some cases, negative dynamics in treatment are noted even in the early stages. Parkinson's disease is incurable, medications only help to delay the manifestation of severe symptoms.

There are three main factors that contribute to the manifestation and further development of Parkinson's syndrome:

• Age-related changes.
• Heredity.
• Unfavorable conditions.

In humans, muscle tone is controlled by special centers called basal ganglia, where a special substance called dopamine is produced. Due to the dopamine content in cells, a person is able to control movements and maintain a certain posture. Every 10 years, approximately 8% of cells containing dopamine die in the human brain. Parkinsonism begins when the total number of cells is less than 20%, and their number rapidly decreases as the disease progresses. People with a hereditary predisposition are susceptible to the disease (in this case, the chances double). The hereditary factor not only triggers an accelerated process of cell death in the brain, but also contributes to an early start. In people who are not genetically predisposed to Parkinson's syndrome, the dopamine content approaches a critical level at a fairly old age. In people prone to developing Parkinson's syndrome, the basal ganglia have a higher sensitivity to the manifestation of various external factors (unfavorable conditions, toxic substances, infections), so the process of cell degeneration occurs faster and begins much earlier. Scientists have not yet found out whether there is a possibility of stopping the course of the disease.

To help those suffering from Parkinson's syndrome, the doctor must solve two important problems: reduce the manifestation of symptoms and restrain the death of dopamine-containing ganglia. For people with Parkinson's syndrome, taking vitamin E and moderate physical activity is considered useful. In the early stages of Parkinsonism, medications may not be used (it is advisable not to do this for as long as possible). Drug treatment usually begins when the external manifestations of the disease do not allow the patient to perform usual actions (everyday or professional), due to limited motor activity. Usually, the symptoms of Parkinson's disease are eliminated by amantadine, levopod, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, etc. All drugs are addictive, so for an effective result, doses are periodically increased, which causes side effects. Individual symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, are eliminated with sedatives.

Traditional medicine is also widely used to combat this disease. In the early stages of Parkinsonism, it is recommended to take a decoction of oats: take 3 liters of water per glass of unpeeled grains, simmer in an enamel bowl for about an hour. The decoction prepared in this way is drunk like regular drinking water during the day (the healing properties last for two days, then a new portion should be brewed). The course of treatment is 3 months. Freshly squeezed spinach juice has an effective effect.

Parkinson's disease symptoms manifest themselves individually, in each specific case. The manifestation of some symptoms at an early stage 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 the symptoms of some other neurological diseases, most of which are easily treated.

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