Building Awareness for Parkinson’s Disease

By Assemblyman Will Barclay Parkinsons Disease is a chronic, degenerative neurological disorder that affects one in 100 people over age 60.

While the average age at onset is 60, people have been diagnosed as young as 18. There is no objective test, or biomarker, for Parkinsons Disease, so the rate of misdiagnosis can be relatively high.

Parkinsons Disease was first characterized by an English doctor, James Parkinson, in 1817.

According to the National Institute of Health, Parkinsons Disease is a disorder of the central nervous system that results from the loss of cells in various parts of the brain, including a region called the substantia nigra. The substantia nigra cells produce dopamine, a chemical messenger responsible for transmitting signals within the brain that allow for coordination of movement.

Loss of dopamine causes neurons to fire without normal control, leaving patients less able to direct or control their movement. Parkinsons disease is one of several diseases categorized by clinicians as movement disorders.

Symptoms include tremor, rigidity, extreme slowness of movement, and impaired balance.

Swallowing and speaking difficulties are also common, as are several non-motor symptoms that seriously affect quality of life.

Parkinsons disease belongs to a group of conditions called movement disorders.

The four main symptoms are tremor, or trembling in hands, arms, legs, jaw, or head; rigidity, or stiffness of the limbs and trunk; bradykinesia, or slowness of movement; and postural instability, or impaired balance.

These symptoms usually begin gradually and worsen with time.

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Building Awareness for Parkinson’s Disease