Essay Sample on Parkinson's: An Overview of Symptoms & Causes

Introduction

Generally, Parkinson's disease is a cumulative nervous system infection, and more importantly, it affects body movement. By the year of 1817, the disorder was identified, and this is indicated in James Parkinson's study ''Essay on the shaking palsy". James outlined the primary motor symptoms that are referenced for Parkinson's disease. Tremor, bradykinesia, and rigidity are among the signs of the infection (Tysnes et al., 2017). Bradykinesia sign is associated with slow movement, consuming much time in doing a simple task. When the symptom persists, it leads one difficult to stand (Tysnes et al., 2017).

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Conversely, rest tremor starts with the shake of limps then hands. Rigidity, on the other hand, occurs at any part of the body. This leads to stiffness and the pain of muscles hence limiting one's motion. Additionally, a mental sign is reviewed in James's essay. Although motor symptoms are the ones that used to diagnose the disorder, non- motor symptoms are more considered for about two decades. Parkinson's disease mainly affects the neuron nervous system of alpha-synuclein, which then forms Lewy bodies in the nigra substantia of the brain (Tysnes et al., 2017). Movement difficulty is caused by the diminishing of dopaminergic neurons of the nigra substantial.

At first, Parkinson's disease was identified as a pure movement disorder, and it was diagnosed with motor symptoms mentioned above. Moreover, postural instability and overall postural changes were discovered to be another sign of the disorder. In the years of 1990s, more cases were reported to feels with Parkinson's disease (Tysnes et al., 2017). However, the post-mortem examination conducted, indicated that only eighty percent of cases met the criteria of Parkinson's disorder. Additionally, constipation, hyposmia, and REM-sleep behavior disorder were recorded by in Danish study showing that they were prodromal signs of Parkinson's infection (Tysnes et al., 2017).

As technology continues to advance, the criteria for diagnosing Parkinson's disorder also change. Cardinal signs such as rigidity tremor and Bradykinesia still are stilled used to diagnose the patient even after the revised old clinical criteria (Kim et al., 2019). However, the current criteria have disregarded the sign of postural instability. Instead, the requirements focus on diagnostic motor and non-motor. Parkinson's disorder is determined through the therapy routine of a dopaminergic, test of cardiac sympathetic denervation, among others.

Ideally, the actual cause of Parkinson's disorder is not known. The current studies reveal that genetic risk factors contribute bigger part in causing the disease. According to the statistic, family members with infected patients are more risk to acquire the infection, and this is two to three-fold compared to the general population. The accumulation of leucine kinase mutations causes about forty percent of people that are affected by Parkinson's disorder. More so, it is one of the genetic, which causes five percent of the total population with the disease (Kim et al., 2019). Monogenetic, on the other hand, influence five to ten percent of the people with the disease. However, the cases of Parkinson's disease caused by monogenetic are rare. For illustration, the study was conducted in Norway, indicated that two hundred and twelve out of two hundred and sixty-five were diagnosed with Parkinson and only was Parkinson's disease caused by monogenetic. The other patients were diagnosed with Parkinson's infection caused by leucine-rich repeat kinase mutations. The Parkinson's infection that is caused by monogenetic mutation differs from that of leucine-rich repeat kinase mutations, both clinically and pathologically (Kim et al., 2019).

Research reveals that one to two in thousand population is a prevalence of Parkinson's disease (Kim et al., 2019). Consequently, the community above sixty is more prone to the condition. About one percent of the population affected by that population is diagnosed with the infection (Kim et al., 2019). Sometimes, it reaches four percent. The case of the disease is a rare effect population below the age of 50. Annually, ten to twenty incidences in a hundred thousand inhabitants are reported with illness. However, the rate of Parkinson's disease varies from one report to another (Kim et al., 2019). Since the methods used to assess the diagnostic criteria are different.

Reflection

Genetic risk factors such as alpha-synuclein, tau variants, and GBA mutations are also more prevalent in the disease. As mentioned earlier, families with relatives with Parkinson's disease are more likely to get the disease compared to the general population (Tysnes et al., 2017). Environmental risk factors such as alcohol, cigarette smoking level of urates, and vitamin D exposure can also trigger Parkinson's disease. The prevention and treatment of Parkinson's disease remain a mystery since the actual cause of the infection is not established correctly. Besides, at the late stage, the illness can be hard to manage. However, when diagnosed at an early stage, they can be easily controlled. Nordic countries have implemented a stable health care system that has organized the population in an orderly manner. For instance, people with advanced age are discouraged from shifting to other regions of the countries since they are more prevalent in Parkinson's infection (Tysnes et al., 2017).

Technology has marked a millstone where new diagnosis criteria, therapies, and the validated rating scales that are applied to improve treatment and clinical assessment of the patients. The revised diagnostic criteria have also impact new approaches that can be used to control the disease. One of the strategies that can be used to manage the infection is drug delivery systems. The systems are applied to enhance the brain delivery of neuroprotective molecules in the body (Kim et al., 2019). More so, the drug delivery system can be used to target the symptoms of Parkinson's disease and thus controlling the infection. Among the medications used to treat motor, signs are levodopa, monoamine oxidase, amantadine, and dopamine. Lastly, environmental risk factors may be controlled. For instance, clinicians are obligated to advise old folks not to smoke cigarettes and also not drink alcohol since they can lead to Parkinson's infection. Also, regular aerobic exercise can mitigate environmental risk factors and sometimes genetic factors. Some studies reveal that consuming caffeine from tea and coffee, used to fight with Parkinson's disease.

Shakil et al. (2018). Diagnosis and Treatment of Parkinson's disease. Retrieved 2 February 2020, from https://www.aafp.org/afp/2006/1215/p2046.pdf

According to Shakil and his colleagues, Parkinson's disease is a neuro progress illness that decreases the quality of life. The persistence of the infection can lead to disability disorder. The cardinal symptoms of Parkinson's disease that are revealed by the study (Shakil et al., 2018) include bradykinesia, rest tremor asymmetric onset, and rigidity. Although the authors show that the cause of Parkinson's disease is not identified, genetics and environment risk factors are the leading cause of the infection. The research of Shakil and his colleague entails that Parkinson's disease at an early stage can be controlled via therapy and medication. The medication used to treat the illness are Levodopa and Dopamine agonists. Levodopa however, is more effective compared to dopamine agonists.

References

Kim, R., & Jun, J.-S. (2019). Impact of Overweight and Obesity on Functional and Clinical Outcomes of Early Parkinsons Disease. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2019.11.019

Shakil et al. (2018). Diagnosis and Treatment of Parkinson's disease. Retrieved 2 February 2020, from https://www.aafp.org/afp/2006/1215/p2046.pdf

Tysnes, O.-B., & Storstein, A. (2017). Epidemiology of Parkinson's disease. Journal of Neural Transmission, 124(8), 901-905. doi: 10.1007/s00702-017-1686-y