Understanding Parkinson’s to recover a new life

  Originally known as tremor palsy, Parkinson’s disease was first described by the English physician James Pakinson in 1817, after which the disease was officially named Parkinson’s disease. Surveys have found that about 2 million or more people in China over the age of 55 have Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease that commonly affects middle-aged and elderly people, and is a central nervous system disease. Symptoms commonly include resting tremor of the limbs, accompanied by slow movements, muscle tonicity with limited mobility, dull expressions, and forward walking.  Parkinson’s disease occurs due to the degeneration of the function of a small group of brain cells in a specific part of the deep brain. The progression of the disease varies from patient to patient, and the main symptoms of the disease vary greatly among individuals, with some few patients progressing rapidly to disability within a few years, while many patients progress relatively slowly and can maintain good function for 15 to 20 years after reasonable treatment. In addition to Parkinson’s disease itself, this depends to a large extent on the patient’s own psychological quality, medical conditions and family care. Patients who are optimistic, strong-willed, have harmonious family relationships and good home care, along with reasonable and timely medical treatment, are mostly able to maintain long-lasting self-care ability and their disease progresses relatively slowly.  Parkinson’s disease itself is not a fatal disease and generally does not affect life expectancy. With the continuous innovation and improvement of treatment methods, more and more patients are able to maintain a high level of motor function and quality of life for life. Of course, if patients do not receive timely and reasonable treatment, it can easily lead to a decline in physical function and even inability to take care of themselves, and eventually various complications, such as pneumonia and urinary tract infections. Therefore, for patients who have only sluggishness and stiffness without tremor symptoms yet, if they do not receive proper treatment, they may develop into unable to take care of themselves after three to five years.  Parkinson’s disease can be treated with medication or surgery to restore health. The first treatment for Parkinson’s disease is medication, commonly used drugs such as medopa, Xanax, Amantadine, etc. However, usually after the “honeymoon period” of medication (usually 3-5 years) has passed, the symptoms appear again, and even the “ochronosis” and “I tell you that modern medicine still has a way to help patients return to a healthy life, and surgical treatment can solve these problems. Commonly used surgical treatments are stereotactic minimally invasive procedures, such as deep brain electrical stimulation (DBS) and nucleus pulposus destruction, and DBS is a better treatment.  The timing of DBS is described below: Initially, DBS was used in patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease and in those whose medications had failed or who had severe allodynia. Now, Parkinson’s patients are treated with DBS when medication fails to maintain a normal work life and social activities. Recent studies have shown that DBS procedure can slow down the progression of PD. Foreign animal experiments have found that DBS can increase the secretion of dopamine in the brain and thus improve the quality of life of patients.  To sum up, if you have Parkinson’s disease, first of all, don’t be afraid, and secondly, choose a functional neurosurgeon with higher qualification to receive the appropriate treatment, I believe that every patient will get better treatment, regain the lost confidence and return to a healthy new life.