Knowledge leads to understanding

The entire month of April is recognized as National Parkinson’s Awareness Month, a time designed to focus on education about the Parkinson’s disease, or PD.

Approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s each year (ClevelandFEScenter/).  And over 10 million people worldwide are living with the disease according to Medical News Today.

The Mayo Clinic explains that “Parkinson’s is a disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement, often including tremors.” There are five main stages of Parkinson’s, as explained at Parkinson.org:  #1 is the mildest symptoms. There may be symptoms, but they are not severe enough to interfere with daily life; #2 is just when all these symptoms worsen. This is the moderate form of Parkinson’s; #3 is the major turning point in a patient. He or she still experiences the previous symptoms, such as muscle stiffness and decreased reflexes, but the sense of balance deteriorates and often leads to falls; #4 is when most people start using a walker and are unable to live alone, needing extra assistance; and #5 is the final stage, where the patient is unable to walk or stand, can experience confusion, hallucinations, delusions, and even dementia.

There’s currently no cure for Parkinson’s but medication and physiotherapy are common treatments. Most people are diagnosed with PD around their 50s or 60s, although it can be identified earlier. Michael J. Fox, for instance, was only 29 when he was diagnosed with the disease.

This disease affects more men than women, according to Hackensackmeridianhealth.org/. Possible reasons for this increased risk of Parkinson’s disease in men is toxicant exposure, head trauma, neuroprotection by estrogen, mitochondrial dysfunction, or X linkage of genetic risk factors according to the journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

Although the root cause for Parkinson’s is loss of nerve cells, “a tremendous stigma surrounds the disease because of misinformation or a lack of information” (Parkinson’s News Today). So using all of April helps shine light and support more education, information, and conversations about the disease.