Parkinson's Disease

At present, there is no cure for Parkinson's disease, but there are a variety of medications which can provide spectacular relief from the symptoms it causes. For many patients, it has been found that a variety of medications which have been combined can also give excellent results in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease is a chronic progressive illness for which there is no cure. It can affect many people in different ways. For instance some people may develop a particularly aggressive form of the disease, whilst others may only experience minor problems such as a slight tremor. Yet others may find that they have a mild form of the disease for several years, whilst others discover their Parkinson's disease evolves over a much shorter time span. Parkinson's disease is very much an individual illness, with some symptoms being fairly specific to different people.

Carbidopa is a very useful drug to use in combination with Levodopa. It delays the adaptation of levodopa into dopamine until the dopamine has reached the brain. Obviously there are huge benefits in this as the patient then receives the maximum effect from his Levodopa treatment.

Though Levodopa is a very effective drug, unfortunately it does not treat all symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Bradykinesia and the rigidity found in limbs probably respond the best towards Levodopa; unfortunately it's been found that levodopa is not best suited to the treatment of tremors and usually only has a marginal effect on them. Anticholinergics are probably the best type of drug to use for tremors. And a drug called Amantadine is proving promising in the treatment of many symptoms displayed.

In some rare cases surgery can be considered if drug treatment has failed. Deep brain stimulation is a treatment which has been given approval in the US. This consists of electrodes which are fixed into the brain and connected to a small electrical device called a pulse generator externally programmed.

DBS is useful because it can reduce the need for levodopa and other drug therapy. Many of these drugs can sometimes make some symptoms worse whilst helping others. DBS assists in decreasing involuntary movements called dyskinesia which is a common side effect of the drug levodopa. DBS also assists in reducing fluctuations of specific symptoms and helps reduce tremors, Bradykinesia, and other gait problems.

There is a great deal of research being conducted into Parkinson's disease, with many millions of dollars being spent in the search for a cure. There are suggestions that Parkinson's disease is on the increase, which may suggest that there are environmental issues such as toxins to be considered when looking for cures. Genetic possibilities are also being considered because though Parkinson's disease is not considered to be hereditary, it has been noted to run in some families.





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