June 10, 2016
NEW ORLEANS - Doctors say people with Parkinson's Disease are living decades after they are diagnosed and there are two new drugs on the market to help patients.
The disease and its effects have been in the news this week with the death of Muhammad Ali, who suffered with the disease for 30 years.
Rytary is a new and improved version of a former drug but its benefits now last longer to help patients.
Nuplazid also helps people with Parkinson's who have psychosis, hallucinations and paranoid thoughts. That drug just hit local pharmacies last week.
Neurologists at LSU Health Sciences Center say medications and treatments are helping patients live better lives.
"Parkinson's itself, we can handle you reasonably good. We're not going to make you normal, we're not going to reverse the disease, we're not going to cure the disease but we can provide a very good quality of life for 15, 20 years," said Jay Rao, MD, a longtime local Parkinson's specialist.
Rao says he is diagnosing patients with Parkinson's at a younger age. He is seeing more who are younger than 40 and his youngest was only 13 years old
http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/new-drugs-could-help-parkinsons-patients-like-muhammad-ali/239213694
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