LIVERPOOL - Dean Stephens is not ignoring the fact that he has a progressive disease. Day by day he can feel differently. Today may be a very good day, and he may not need his walker at all.
Tomorrow, his brain might not be able to tell his feet to move in order to take a step.
Stephens, 70, has Parkinson’s disease, a movementrelated illness that took the life of boxer Muhammad Ali a few weeks ago.
Stephens is a retired engineer and farmer from Liverpool who has owned several businesses over the years and considered himself an active person. Five years ago, he said, he felt like he was “dragging weights around.” His wife Gail agreed something wasn’t right.
After six months of tests and unanswered questions, the diagnosis of Parkinson’s was given.
Parkinson's is due to the abnormal protein, lewy body, explained Dr. Glen Finney, a neurology specialist at Geisenger’s campus in Wilkes-Barre. The proteins regulate body movement.
In cases where the body needs to respond to normal movements that are fast and smooth, the brain fails to give that signal in a quick manner.
Dopamine is a chemical in the brain that helps with movement, and medications help increase this chemical.
Some key symptoms in patients include a decrease in facial expressions, shuffling of feet when walking and some shaking.
At times, a person can be suspected of having Parkinson’s, Finney said, but they may just have the symptoms and in fact have a different disorder.
“The strongest sign that it is Parkinson’s,” Finney said, “is if the patient responds well to the increase in dopamine in the brain.
Stephens said medication has certainly helped. He has begun seeing a specialist at Penn State Hershey Medical Center who increased his medications. The shaking he had had in his left hand is not as bad, Stephens said.
“The medicine certainly lessens the symptoms. You gain some better movement,” he said. Currently Stephens does not need to use his walker as much. While these are all good indicators, he knows there will come a day when even the best medicines will not help him.
“Parkinson’s is a progressive disease. That’s just how it is. I can’t paint it any differently,” Stephens said of the reality.
He said he wears a neck brace so that his neck can stay straight when sitting.
“And I was shuffling like Tim Conway,” he said with a laugh referring to the comedian who was known for being a character who walked with short steps on “The Carol Burnett Show.”
As the person progresses with the illness, symptoms increase. Swallowing and speaking become difficult. And one third of all Parkinson’s patients also experience dementia, Finney said.
Even these more difficult symptoms can be treated with therapy, he said.
There’s no real known cause of the disease, but Finney said there is some research pointing to exposure to pesticides and lack of activity early in life.
It is very common in older adults, Finney said, and the biggest misconception is that the disease is rare.
“People like Muhammad Ali and Michael J. Fox have done an incredible job at bringing about awareness.”
The doctor also said that family members should not assume that memory loss is normal in older people nor that slow movements are normal. An exam by a neurologist is highly encouraged when patients experience these changes
http://www.dailyitem.com/news/lifestyles/health/parkinson-s-a-daily-battle-with-a-degenerative-disease/article_aab8990a-4396-11e6-88b2-b3a0aa734897.html
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