Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease

List of symptoms of Parkinson's Disease:

The list of signs and symptoms mentioned in various sources for Parkinson's Disease includes the 37 symptoms listed below:

• 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
  • Tremor in one hand
  • Tremor in one leg
  • Tremor in one arm
  • Tremor in one side of the body
  • Involuntary head nodding
• Walking symptoms
  • Difficulty walking
  • Stooping posture
  • Loss of postural reflexes
  • Rigid back
  • Shuffling gait
  • Postural instability
  • Impaired balance
  • Impaired coordination
  • Falls
  • Falling forwards
  • Falling backwards
• Rigidity - stiffness of the limbs and trunk
• Bradykinesia - slowness of movement
• Difficulty swallowing
• Speech changes
  • Difficulty talking
  • Voice changes
  • Softer voice
  • Monotonous voice
  • Stammering
• Facial symptoms
  • Facial expression changes
  • Fixed mask-like expression
  • Tight facial muscles
  • Facial muscle spasm
• Intellectual symptoms - usually late in the progression of symptoms; most people suffer physical symptoms without early mental changes.

Note that Parkinson's Disease symptoms usually refers to various symptoms known to a patient, but the phrase Parkinson's Disease signs may refer to those signs only noticable by a doctor.

More ways to research these symptoms: To research other symptoms use the symptom center, or to research causes of more than one symptom in combination, try our multi-symptom search.

Research More About Parkinson's Disease

Do I have Parkinson's Disease?

• Parkinson's Disease: Introduction
• Parkinson's Disease: Diagnostic Testing to confirm diagnosis
• Home Diagnostic Testing
• Alternative diagnoses and misdiagnosis for Parkinson's Disease
• Failure to Diagnose Parkinson's Disease
• Hidden Causes of Parkinson's Disease
• How serious is it?
• Treatments for Parkinson's Disease
• More about Parkinson's Disease

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical tests related to Parkinson's Disease:

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

Wrongly Diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease?

The list of other diseases or medical conditions that may be on the differential diagnosis list of alternative diagnoses for Parkinson's Disease includes:

• Essential tremor
• Progressive supranuclear palsy
• Secondary parkinsonism

• Corticobasal Degeneration
• Dementia With Lewy Bodies

See the full list of 17 alternative diagnoses for Parkinson's Disease

More about symptoms of Parkinson's Disease:

More information about symptoms of Parkinson's Disease and related conditions:

• Other diseases with similar symptoms and common misdiagnoses
• Tests to determine if these are the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease
• Symptoms that may be caused by complications of Parkinson's Disease
• Underlying causes of Parkinson's Disease
• Risk factors for Parkinson's Disease

Other Possible Causes of these Symptoms

Click on any of the symptoms below to see a full list of other causes including diseases, medical conditions, toxins, drug interactions, or drug side effect causes of that symptom.

• Bradykinesia - see all causes of Bradykinesia
• Difficulty swallowing - see all causes of Swallowing difficulty
• Difficulty talking - see all causes of Difficulty talking
• Difficulty walking - see all causes of Difficulty walking
• Facial expression changes - see all causes of Expressions
• Facial muscle spasm - see all causes of Muscle spasms
• Facial symptoms - see all causes of Face symptoms
• Falling backwards - see all causes of Balance symptoms
• Falling forwards - see all causes of Balance symptoms
• Falls - see all causes of Falls
• Fixed facial expression - see all causes of Lack of facial expression
• Hand tremor - see all causes of Hand tremor
• Impaired balance - see all causes of Balance symptoms
• Impaired coordination - see all causes of Impaired coordination
• Intellectual symptoms - see all causes of Cognitive impairment
• Lack of blinking - see all causes of Eye blinking symptoms
• Loss of postural reflexes - see all causes of Posture symptoms
• Postural instability - see all causes of Posture symptoms
• Rigidity - see all causes of Rigidity
• Shuffling gait - see all causes of Shuffling gait
• Speech changes - see all causes of Speech changes
• Stooping posture - see all causes of Posture symptoms
• Tremor or trembling - see all causes of Tremor symptoms
• Voice changes - see all causes of Voice changes
• Walking symptoms - see all causes of Walking symptoms

Medical Books Online about Parkinson's Disease

Medical Books Excerpts Excerpts of published medical book chapters related to Parkinson's Disease are available from published medical books for more detailed information about Parkinson's Disease.

Copyright notice for book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

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Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease: Online Medical Books

16 MEDICAL BOOKS ONLINE! Review excerpts from medical books online, free, without registration, for more information about the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's disease: Signs and symptoms
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

The cardinal symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are muscle rigidity and akinesia and an insidious resting tremor that begins in the fingers (unilateral pill-roll tremor), increases during stress or anxiety, and decreases with purposeful movement and sleep. Muscle rigidity results in resistance to passive muscle stretching, which may be uniform (lead-pipe rigidity) or jerky (cogwheel rigidity). Akinesia causes the patient to walk with difficulty (gait lacks normal parallel motion and may be retropulsive or propulsive) and produces a high-pitched, monotone voice; drooling; a masklike facial expression; loss of posture control (the patient walks with body bent forward); and dysarthria, dysphagia, or both. Occasionally, akinesia may also cause oculogyric crises (eyes are fixed upward, with involuntary tonic movements) or blepharospasm (eyelids are completely closed). Parkinson’s disease itself doesn’t impair the intellect, but a coexisting disorder, such as arteriosclerosis, may do so.

READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Parkinson's disease: Signs and symptoms
(Handbook of Diseases)

The cardinal signs and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are muscle rigidity, bradykinesia or akinesia, loss of position sense with postural instability, and an insidious tremor that begins in the fingers (unilateral pill-roll tremor), increases during stress or anxiety, and decreases with purposeful movement and sleep.

Muscle rigidity results in resistance to passive muscle stretching, which may be uniform (lead-pipe rigidity) or jerky (cogwheel rigidity). Akinesia causes the patient to walk with difficulty (gait lacks normal parallel motion and may be retropulsive or propulsive).

Parkinson’s disease also produces a high-pitched, monotone voice; drooling; a masklike facial expression; loss of posture control (the patient walks with body bent forward); and dysarthria, dysphagia, or both. Occasionally, akinesia may also cause oculogyric crises (eyes are fixed upward, with involuntary tonic movements) or blepharospasm (eyelids are completely closed).

Parkinson’s disease results in dementia in about 10% of those diagnosed. Theorists believe this may be due to the advanged age of some patients or a coexisting disorder such as arteriosclerosis that results in cognitive deficits.

READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Article Excerpts About Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease:

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

It is a neurodegenerative disease that manifests as a tremor, muscular stiffness and difficulty with balance and walking. A classic pathological feature of the disease is the presence of an inclusion body, called the Lewy body, in many regions of the brain. (Source: Genes and Disease by the National Center for Biotechnology)

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

The four primary symptoms of Parkinson's are tremor or trembling in hands, arms, legs, jaw, and face; rigidity or stiffness of the limbs and trunk; bradykinesia, or slowness of movement; and postural instability or impaired balance and coordination. Patients may also have difficulty walking, talking, or completing other simple tasks. The disease is both chronic and progressive. Parkinson's is not usually inherited. Early symptoms are subtle and occur gradually. (Source: excerpt from NINDS Parkinson's Disease Information Page: NINDS)

Parkinson's Disease as a Cause of Symptoms or Medical Conditions

When considering symptoms of Parkinson's Disease, it is also important to consider Parkinson's Disease as a possible cause of other medical conditions. The Disease Database lists the following medical conditions that Parkinson's Disease may cause:

• Anosmia
• Ataxia
• Bradykinesia
• Chronic brain failure
• Facies abnormality
• Hypersalivation
• Jaccoud's arthropathy
• Parkinsonism
• Rigidity
• Tremor
• Urine color abnormal
• Visual hallucinations

Medical articles and books on symptoms:

These general reference articles may be of interest in relation to medical signs and symptoms of disease in general:

• Diagnostic Testing for a Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease
• Research Alternative Diagnoses for Parkinson's Disease
• How serious is Parkinson's Disease?
• More about Parkinson's Disease
• Online Diagnosis
• Self Diagnosis Pitfalls
• Pitfalls of Online Diagnosis
• Symptoms of the Silent Killer Diseases
• Lesser known silent killer diseases
• Books on signs and symptoms

Full list of premium articles on symptoms and diagnosis

About signs and symptoms of Parkinson's Disease:

The symptom information on this page attempts to provide a list of some possible signs and symptoms of Parkinson's Disease. This signs and symptoms information for Parkinson's Disease has been gathered from various sources, may not be fully accurate, and may not be the full list of Parkinson's Disease signs or Parkinson's Disease symptoms. Furthermore, signs and symptoms of Parkinson's Disease may vary on an individual basis for each patient. Only your doctor can provide adequate diagnosis of any signs or symptoms and whether they are indeed Parkinson's Disease symptoms.