Why does Parkinson’s disease worsen during stress and anxiety?

Parkinson’s disease is a common degenerative disease of the central nervous system in middle-aged and elderly people, the pathogenesis of which is still unclear. The main clinical symptoms include motor symptoms such as limb tremor, muscle rigidity, slow movement and abnormal posture. The disease will gradually worsen over time, and non-motor symptoms (including depression, anxiety, hallucinations and other psychiatric symptoms, constipation, pain, speech disorders, etc.) and motor complications (end-of-agent phenomenon, switch phenomenon, isokinetic disorder, etc.) may also appear. Although Parkinson’s disease is not fatal, it affects the patient’s ability to work and quality of life. If left untreated or without reasonable treatment, it will increase the harm to patients. Therefore, in treatment, we pay attention to scientific and reasonable treatment and adopt a comprehensive treatment plan, including drugs, surgery, psychology, rehabilitation and nursing, each of which should not be taken lightly. For example, Parkinson’s disease can be aggravated by adverse emotional effects, such as tension, anxiety and fatigue, which require psychological adjustment. Why do people with Parkinson’s disease aggravate when they are nervous and anxious? Because it is a whole body reaction that occurs when a person is normally stimulated by the outside world or encounters an emergency situation, including shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, and facial redness. In fact, these are the result of extensive excitation of our sympathetic nervous system, which leads to different changes in organs throughout the body. For example: circulatory organs (cardiovascular): rapid heartbeat, increased contraction of the heart muscle, significant constriction of the abdominal and skin vessels, etc. Patients with Parkinson’s disease play a diametrically opposite role, as they have an autonomic nervous system (including the sympathetic nervous system) dysfunction, which is manifested by hyperfunction of certain sympathetic nerves, and are prone to non-motor symptoms such as profuse sweating, facial congestion, tachycardia, shortness of breath, slow gastrointestinal movements, and overproduction of sebaceous and sweat glands, thus exacerbating when sperm tension is present These symptoms are aggravated by sperm tension. At the same time, sympathetic excitation can aggravate the motor symptoms, including limb tremors, due to the increased frequency of tension impulses from the brain. Therefore, psychological adjustment is also important to improve the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease patients. It is recommended that family members should care for and guide the patients, help them adjust their mindset to face Parkinson’s disease, and not to make them angry.