How to treat Parkinson’s disease

  Parkinson’s disease, also known as tremor palsy, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease common in middle-aged and elderly people, clinically characterized by resting tremor, motor bradykinesia, myotonia and abnormal postural gait.  The cause of the disease is not yet clear, but it is associated with aging, family genetics, environment, chemical pollution, and emotions. The incidence of Parkinson’s disease increases with age, with a prevalence of 500/100,000 over the age of 50 and significantly higher at 1000/100,000 at the age of 60 or older. It is second only to tumors and cardiovascular diseases in terms of its harmful effects on patients’ ability to live, and is thus called the “third killer” and “chronic cancer” of the middle-aged and elderly. However, the public is seriously unaware of it and the consultation rate is seriously low, so people are reminded to detect and treat it early.  So, how can you tell if you have Parkinson’s disease?  1, less movement, limb stiffness, limb tremors are the core symptoms of Parkinson’s disease; 2, motor retardation, reduced movement – typically such as mask face and reduction of upper limb swing, difficulty in starting; 3, tonicity: limb stiffness, body forward flexion; 4, resting tremor of the upper limbs; 5, characteristic resting tremor during limb movement disappears or Reduction. However, it is important to emphasize that some elderly people (over 70 years old) may not develop tremor, but only show reduced movement, bradykinesia, and myotonicity, etc., which should be promptly diagnosed. Although early diagnosis of the disease is very difficult, early treatment once detected is not only effective, but also can greatly reduce the cost of treatment.  Western medicine still lacks etiologic treatment for Parkinson’s disease, and although a variety of anti-Parkinson’s drugs and surgical treatments have been shown to be effective in improving the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, they cannot stop the natural progression of the disease. In addition, levodopa, which is regarded as the “gold standard” in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease among drug replacement therapies, has been shown to have reduced efficacy, fluctuating symptoms, movement disorders, mental disorders and other side effects after several years of use. It has been reported that Parkinson’s disease can lead to significant disability within 10 to 15 years of onset.  In recent years, the advantages of Chinese medicine in the treatment of this disease have gradually emerged. Chinese medicine lies in improving clinical symptoms, delaying degeneration, slowing down the progression of Parkinson’s disease, improving the quality of survival of patients, and showing the advantages of fewer side effects and reduced side effects of western drugs when applied in combination with western drugs, especially for the improvement of non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, such as sleep disorders, constipation, abnormal sweating, neuropsychiatric symptoms, etc., with better The therapeutic effect. In Chinese medicine treatment, the main method is to identify the evidence and combine the patient’s tongue and pulse to get the overall treatment from the inside, which is effective in treating both the symptoms and the root cause. Chen Zhigang, the director of our department, and his team have devoted themselves to the research of Chinese and Western medicine treatment of Parkinson’s disease for many years, which has better efficacy in relieving the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, reducing the side effects of Western medicine, and slowing down the progress of the disease, and has enabled many Parkinson’s patients to go to the road of recovery, relieving their worries and enabling them to lead a healthy and happy life again.