Parkinson's Disease

Introduction: Parkinson's Disease

A degenerative brain disorder that typically appears after 50 but can occur in younger adults. The charactistic symptom of Parkinson's is uncontrollable shaking called tremor, usually starting in the hands. Gradual progression of Parkinson's disease causes symptoms throughout the body. In many cases the cause is unclear, but Secondary Parkinson's disease can occur can be caused by various underlying causes such as brain injury or certain brain infections.

Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease

• Fixed facial expression
• Lack of blinking
• Tremor or trembling - various uncontrolled movements typically occuring in fingers, hands, arms, legs, jaw, and face
  • Tremor in one little finger - a common early symptom
  • Hand tremor

See full list of 37 symptoms of Parkinson's Disease

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Parkinson's Disease:

• Home Andropause Tests
• Prostate Health: Home Testing:
  • Home Prostate Tests
  • Home PSA Antigen Tests
  • Home Testosterone Tests

Medical Textbooks Online about Parkinson's Disease

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Wrongly Diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease?

• Misdiagnosis of Parkinson's Disease
• Failure to diagnose Parkinson's Disease
• Underlying causes of Parkinson's Disease (possibly wrongly diagnosed)
• Failure to diagnose Parkinson's Disease

Misdiagnosis and Parkinson's Disease

Alzheimer's disease over-diagnosed: The well-known disease of Alzheimer's disease is often over-diagnosed. Patients tend to assume that any memory loss or forgetulness symptom...read more »

Dementia may be a drug interaction: A common scenario in aged care is for a patient to show mental decline to dementia. Whereas this can, of course, occur due to various medical...read more »

Tremor need not be Parkinson's disease: There is the tendency to believe that any tremor symptom, or shakiness, means Parkinson's disease. The reality is that there are various possibilities,...read more »

Rare diseases misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease: A rare genetic disorder is often misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease for men in their 50's. The disease Fragile X...read more »

Brain pressure condition often misdiagnosed as dementia: A condition that results from an excessive pressure of CSF within the brain is often misdiagnosed. It may be misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease or dementia (such as ...read more »

Vitamin B12 deficiency under-diagnosed: The condition of Vitamin B12 deficiency is a possible misdiagnosis of various conditions, such as multiple sclerosis (see symptoms of multiple sclerosis). See symptoms of...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Parkinson's Disease

Causes of Parkinson's Disease

• Encephalitis
• Brain tumor
• Head injury
• Brain injury
• Traumatic brain injury

See full list of 9 causes of Parkinson's Disease

More information about causes of Parkinson's Disease:

• Medications, drugs, or substances causing Parkinson's Disease (4 listings)
• Underlying causes of Parkinson's Disease
• Parkinson's Disease as a symptom
• Medical news summaries relating to Causes of Parkinson's Disease

Treatments for Parkinson's Disease

• Medications
• Medications for stiffness
• Medications for tremor
• Physical therapy
• Muscle-strengthening exercises

See full list of 8 treatments for Parkinson's Disease

Videos for Parkinson's Disease

Patient Surveys for Parkinson's Disease

• Patient Profile Survey
  Take Survey  View Results
• Survey about the symptoms of your Parkinson's Disease
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Prognosis for Parkinson's Disease

Prognosis for Parkinson's Disease: Chronic and progressive.

More about prognosis of Parkinson's Disease

Reseach about Parkinson's Disease

Visit our research pages for current research about Parkinson's Disease treatments.

Clinical Trials for Parkinson's Disease

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Parkinson's Disease include:

• Transcranial Duplex Scanning and SPECT in Parkinsonian Syndromes - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Safety and Efficacy Study of CEP-1347 in the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease - This study has been terminated (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - CEP-1347
• Cell Studies of Parkinson's Disease - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• PET Scanning in Parkinson's Disease - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - 18F-Fluoro-L-dopa,O-15 Water
• Donepezil to Treat Dementia in Parkinson's Disease - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Donepezil

See full list of 260 Clinical Trials for Parkinson's Disease

Statistics for Parkinson's Disease

• Medical statistics for Parkinson's Disease
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Parkinson's Disease
• Death and Mortality statistics for Parkinson's Disease
• Society statistics for Parkinson's Disease

Types of Parkinson's Disease

• Secondary Parkinsonism - when Parkinson's-like symptoms are caused by an underlying condition or cause

Read more about Types of Parkinson's Disease

Medical Guidebooks and Ebooks for Parkinson's Disease

• Medifocus Guidebook for Parkinson's Disease
• Icon Health Sourcebook for Parkinson's Disease

See all guides and ebooks for Parkinson's Disease

Stories from Users Related to Parkinson's Disease

• Parkinson's-like symptoms???
• Parkinson HomeWork
• do I have Parkinson's?????
• Parkinson's Disease
• Parkinson's Disease to Celiac
• Parkinson

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User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Parkinson's Disease, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Article Excerpts about Parkinson's Disease

Genes and Disease by the National Center for Biotechnology (Excerpt)

Parkinson disease, first described by James Parkinson in 1817, is a growing national problem, with more than half a million Americans affected at any one time. Most people are over 50 years old when the disease appears, although it can occur in younger patients. (Source: Genes and Disease by the National Center for Biotechnology)

NINDS Parkinson's Disease Information Page: NINDS (Excerpt)

Parkinson's disease belongs to a group of conditions called motor system disorders. Parkinson's and related disorders are the result of the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells. (Source: excerpt from NINDS Parkinson's Disease Information Page: NINDS)

Definitions of Parkinson's Disease:

Progressive, degenerative disorder of the nervous system characterized by tremors, rigidity, bradykinesia, postural instability, and gait abnormalities; caused by a loss of neurons and a decrease of dopamine in the basal ganglia. - (Source - Diseases Database)

A degenerative disorder of the central nervous system characterized by tremor and impaired muscular coordination - (Source - WordNet 2.1)