Parkinson's Disease
(extracted from booklet 'Parkinson's Disease - Information for people
living with Parkinson's')
What is Parkinson's?
Parkinson's is a slowly progressive disease, in which the symptoms get worse gradually over time.
Parkinson's affects an area of the brain that controls movement and so is known as a 'movement
disorder'.
Many of the symptoms of Parkinson’s are related to movement and these usually respond to medical
treatments.
Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease
In the early stages of Parkinson's the symptoms may occur alone or in combination. A feature of
Parkinson's is that it usually starts on one side of the body and after a period of several years will then
start to involve the opposite side of the body. Common symptoms experienced with Parkinson's are:
• Tremor (shaking)
• Rigidity (a stiffness of the muscles)
• Bradykinesia (slowness of movement)
In addition, poor balance are also associated with disturbance of gait (manner of walking), particularly
as Parkinson's progresses.
How common is Parkinson's?
It is estimated that there are between 50,000 and 100,000 people living with Parkinson's in Australia.
Men develop Parkinson's a little more commonly than women although the reason for this is not yet
known. Parkinson's may appear at any age, but is most common in older people. 1 in 7 people living with Parkinsons are under the age of 40, but the average age of diagnosis is around 65 years. The
number of people with Parkinsons worldwide varies between 1 and 1000 to 2 in 1000 with the figure
increasing to 1 in 100 people over the age of 60.
Is there a Cure?
At this time there is no known prevention or cure for Parkinson's. The gold standard treatment
remains the use of medical therapy in the form of the drug Levodopa. Levodopa is the chemical
precursor of dopamine. The aim of drug treatment for Parkinson's is to correct the dopamine
imbalance in the brain. Once commenced on medication you will most likely need to take it everyday
for the rest of your life. Usually if the medication is stopped the symptoms will return.
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