At last, hope springs eternal

The following are notes I made from a webinar hosted by the American Parkinson's Association ( search "Spotlight on Parkinson's: Searching for ways to stop disease progression"

Direct from the doctor's mouth (Dr. James Richardson, that is).   Does his description of the condition sound familiar:

      "involuntary tremulous motion, lessened muscular power, in parts, not in action, and even when supported, with a propensity to bend the trunk forward and to pass from a walking to a running pace."

THE Speaker, Dr. Standaert, does not mention the 5 stages of PD; rather, he talks of a progression of the condition (see below), a flow chart if you will, in which each "stage" flows into the next.  Symptoms differ from patient to patient and onset of those symptoms, for the most part, can occur at any stage; however there is are symptoms that are most common at each stage.   

Believe it or not,  a patient could have symptoms of Parkinson's without being a member of the PD tribe.  For example, from  the at risk stage(asymptomatic) into the Prodromal there are symptoms, signs, which that indicate the possibility of Parkinson's, such as loss of the sense of  smell (hyposmia), rapid eye movement disorder. a sleep disorder in which the sleeper has vivid dreams and a tendency to act them out, and joining this illustrious list, constipation.

Then following this, there is a stage of early Parkinson's, and this is where we see the typical features – tremor, bradykinesia or slowness of movement, rigidity which is stiffness, and fatigue is another symptom of early Parkinson's disease.

The advanced stage where you see impaired balance and falling, wearing OFF, dyskinesia. memory problems, and experiencing hallucinations.

Possible game changers - you will have to visit the webinar for full and accurate information but I can tease you with the fact that at every stage, scientists are working on procedures to slow down or even stop the progress of the "disease".  It is easy reading and is very uplifting. I have to tell you, it raised my spirits and that's not easy to accomplish.

PSP - BE GLAD YOU HAVE PD

Progressive Supranuclear Palsy "PSP"

 

I have a friend whose husband died from PSP. In all my reading, I had never heard of such a disease.  It is rare, with estimates that between 3- 6 out of 100,000 people will develop PSP.  More men than women are victims  and onset is usually after age 60.

 

PSP is Parkinson's on steroids.

 

PSP victims suffer with problems of physical balance,  eye problems, anger and depression, apathy, problems with speech and swallowing, and movement challenges. 

Sounds a lot like PD, doesn't it, and indeed, it is often misdiagnosed as PD.

 

It is not PD, so stop checking off your symptoms.  PSP progresses more rapidly than PD and rarely responds to PD drugs.  Tremors rarely show in PSP.   

Also, people with PSP show accumulation of the protein tau in affected brain cells, while people with Parkinson’s disease show accumulation of a different protein, called alpha-synuclein.  That ought to convince you that you have PD and not PSP!!!! 

Learn more about this insidious condition 

 <href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov" >PSP</a>