What treatments are available for Parkinson’s disease?
There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease and treatment is comprehensive. Treatment should follow general principles and should also emphasize individualization. The choice of medication for different patients should take into account not only the characteristics of the disease, but also the patient’s age, employment status, affordability and other factors. It is important to follow the principle of “minimum dose of drugs to achieve satisfactory results” and to reduce the side effects and complications of drugs; to improve the patient’s symptoms and to slow down the development of the disease by protecting the existing neurons. Its treatment includes.
1, pharmacological treatment: including levodopa replacement, selective monoamine oxidase-B inhibitors, dopamine receptor agonists, catecholamine-oxygenase-methyltransferase inhibitors, NMDA antagonists, vitamin E and coenzyme Q10, anticholinergic, adenosine A2A receptor antagonists, etc.
2.Non-motor symptom treatment: mainly based on pharmacological treatment, more and more evidence suggests that non-dopaminergic drugs have good clinical application in the treatment of non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
3, rehabilitation: including motor rehabilitation, speech rehabilitation
4, psychotherapy: Parkinson’s disease patients have common psychological problems. Both due to the disease, but also movement disorders to patients caused by inconvenience, but also due to the side effects of drugs. Solve the patient’s psychological problems not only help to improve the patient’s confidence to overcome the disease, but also to slow down the progress of the disease.
5.Surgical treatment: including neurological nucleus destruction, deep brain electrical stimulation treatment
6.Chinese medicine treatment
Therefore, the treatment of Parkinson’s disease is a comprehensive treatment. It is necessary not only to master the advanced knowledge of Parkinson’s disease at home and abroad, but also to master the disease status of each patient in detail, and to adopt formalized, systematic and individualized treatment in order to achieve maximum drug efficacy and economic indicators.
What types of drugs are available for Parkinson’s disease?
Current treatments for Parkinson’s can be broadly divided into the following seven categories.
(1) Dopa agents: levodopa and compound levodopa, such as methyldopa and restorative dopa;
(2) Dopamine agonists: such as thioproterenol (Xylazine or Pergolide), bromocriptine, Tysudar, Cripa, Pramipexole, etc;
(3) Anticholinergics: Antan;
(4) Monoamine oxidase inhibitors: Slegiline;
(5) Catechol-oxo-methyltransferase inhibitors (COMT): Tolcapone, Entocapone;
(6) Amantadine;
(7) Neuroprotective agents: coenzyme Q10, etc.
Due to the different selective mechanisms of action of the above-mentioned drugs, when and under what circumstances to use which drug and in what dose must be made by professional neurologists according to different patients to make different individualized prescriptions and taken under the expert guidance of doctors.
What is the purpose of Parkinson’s disease drug therapy?
In fact, it is not possible to cure Parkinson’s disease with the current level of medical technology, and the treatment measures taken for Parkinson’s disease are only symptomatic.
Of course, we do not deny that mankind may overcome this medical challenge in the coming years or decades, but today, there is no panacea for Parkinson’s disease. But often patients are lured by some medical advertisements, mistakenly believing that Parkinson’s disease can be cured with certain prescriptions and taking them at their own risk, which not only delays the disease, but also increases their own financial burden, often to the detriment of the loss.
What is the prognosis of Parkinson’s disease and does it affect life expectancy?
Although Parkinson’s disease is not an incurable disease, it can seriously affect the patient’s daily life and work, and even cause disability. Therefore some patients often worry about whether having Parkinson’s disease will shorten their life span. We say that Parkinson’s disease itself is not a fatal disease, generally does not affect life expectancy, and with the continuous innovation and improvement of treatment methods and levels, more and more patients can maintain a high level of motor function and quality of life for a longer period of time. According to statistics, in the era before the application of levodopa treatment, the life expectancy of Parkinson’s patients was shortened and their mortality rate was three times higher than that of the general population.
After the application of levodopa replacement therapy, the mortality rate of Parkinson’s patients is roughly the same as that of the general population. Therefore, these patients should not worry that having Parkinson’s disease will affect their life expectancy. Of course, if patients do not receive timely and reasonable treatment, it is easy to lead to the decline of physical functions, and even unable to take care of themselves, with a high disability rate and a long disease course, causing great pain to patients and a serious burden to their families and society.