Question posed by sudhir: Parkinson’s Disease Treatment Options ?

The top answer:

Answer by Esmee.x
I have done a huge essay on Parkinson’s Disease for college. There are drugs to help stop the symptoms, but over time, they can become less effective as the disease progresses. Stem cell research is going on, but it is not developed enough to give a cure or treatment. In the meantime (they think that they are close to finding a cure) you can take a combination of drugs, and have various types of therapy, such as speech therapy to ease the symptoms. Here is a copy of some of my essay;
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder. It affects movements, such as writing, moving and talking. The disease normally first shows symptoms from ages 50 – 70 years, and it becomes more common as people get older. It is not known exactly what causes Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s disease occurs because there is a loss of nerve cells in the substantia nigra, a part of the brain. These cells are destroyed, but it is not known why. These lost cells are responsible for making a chemical in the brain called dopamine, a neurotransmitter, which is what allows messages to get sent to the parts of the brain that co-ordinate movement. With the falling levels of these dopamine producing cells, these parts of the brain cannot function properly, because the loss of dopamine disrupts communication pathways among the nerves that control movement.
There are therapies like speech, occupational, and physiotherapy which can sometimes be useful as the disease progresses. Surgery is needed in severe cases. Three types of drugs are commonly used to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. These are levodopa, dopamine receptor agonists, and monoamine oxidase-B inhibitors.
To cut a long story short, those drugs replace the dopamine in your brain. You need to get these from a doctor, and can be referred for other therapies. If this is for you or a relative, I hope it helps, and wish you the very best. x

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