World Parkinson's Day | How much do you know about Parkinson's disease?

April 11th of each year is "World Parkinson's Day". Since 1997, this day has become a day for people to understand and prevent Parkinson's disease and express their care for Parkinson's patients. For the majority of middle-aged and elderly people, Parkinson's disease is a sword hanging in the air. As the third largest disease among middle-aged and elderly people after tumors and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, in my country, according to data, there are more than 3 million patients. It can be seen that today, Parkinson's disease is not the suffering of one person or one family, but the hardship of thousands of families.

How much do you know about Parkinson's disease? What is Parkinson's disease? How to prevent Parkinson's disease? Let's learn about Parkinson's disease and prevent it together.

First, you need to know "Pa"

Parkinson's disease is a common movement disorder of the nervous system. Its common symptoms include involuntary tremors of the hands, head or mouth when at rest, muscle rigidity, slow movements, and postural balance disorders. Parkinson's disease manifests differently at different stages. In the early stages, the patient's motor symptoms may be manifested as inflexible fine movements such as brushing teeth and beating eggs, the arms will not swing freely when walking, the handwriting becomes smaller, and the expression becomes dull, which are common manifestations of Parkinson's disease. Many patients have tremors. As the course of the disease progresses, patients will also experience symptoms such as unsteady walking, easy falls, limited movement, unclear pronunciation, and difficulty swallowing. Non-motor symptoms such as loss of smell, depression, sleep problems, dementia, and stubborn constipation may appear earlier and become nightmares for Parkinson's patients. In the late stage, patients often have hallucinations and see people and animals in the room. This phenomenon is particularly obvious in the evening and at night. In severe cases, they cannot take care of themselves.

(On April 11, 2018, at the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, medical staff distributed Parkinson's disease knowledge brochures to citizens. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Song Weiwei)

For a long time, the medical community has conducted in-depth and continuous research on Parkinson's disease. The lesion site of Parkinson's disease is in the midbrain of the human brain. The substantia nigra neurons here regulate the brain's motor function by synthesizing a neurotransmitter called "dopamine". Once more than 80% of these substantia nigra neurons degenerate and die, Parkinson's disease symptoms will appear. In general, we believe that the cause of primary Parkinson's disease is mainly related to a combination of factors such as aging, genetics and environment. There is also secondary Parkinson's syndrome, which is secondary to other reasons and causes symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease. It is often related to factors such as trauma, poisoning, and drug side effects.

Know that you need to prevent "Parkinson's Disease" after you have it

After having a certain understanding of Parkinson's disease, the most important thing to do is to prevent and treat Parkinson's disease or Parkinson's syndrome in time. There are four groups of people who especially need to put the prevention of Parkinson's disease on the agenda. The first is the elderly between 55 and 60 years old; the second is those with a family history of Parkinson's disease; the third is people who are often exposed to pesticides, because the insecticides and herbicides in pesticides contain chemical structures similar to MPTP, and MPTP is a chemical substance that has been confirmed to be related to Parkinson's disease; the fourth is those who are exposed to heavy metals, such as manganese miners. These people have a relatively high probability of suffering from Parkinson's disease. Once symptoms such as difficulty starting and arm tremors appear, you should be alert to Parkinson's disease and go to the hospital for screening as soon as possible.

Generally speaking, Parkinson's disease is more common in the elderly population over 60 years old. As the population ages, the number of Parkinson's disease patients is increasing. In addition, due to environmental factors, genetic factors, age factors and long-term mental stress, Parkinson's disease also has a tendency to become younger. Currently, the incidence of Parkinson's disease in people under 50 years old is increasing year by year. Among them, "juvenile Parkinson's disease" patients account for about 10% of the total number of patients.

Don't be afraid if you have Parkinson's disease

Although there is no cure for Parkinson's disease, drugs, surgery and other auxiliary treatments can alleviate symptoms, allowing patients to live independently and maintain a good quality of life. There are many misunderstandings about Parkinson's disease in society, such as that it is difficult to cure, waiting until the symptoms become obvious before seeking medical treatment, and exercise is not conducive to controlling the disease. Although Parkinson's disease cannot be cured in theory, it does not mean that it is incurable. Early diagnosis and early treatment are the effective methods.

(Parkinson's patients sing the song of life (Photo source: Xinhua News Agency reporter/Ren Zhenglai))

Experts say that in the early stages of treatment, drugs are the preferred treatment method because they can improve the patient's symptoms. At present, many hospitals in China are also actively exploring similar models to serve Parkinson's patients. If the patient's condition becomes difficult to control after 3 to 5 years of drug treatment, deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery can be chosen to control Parkinson's symptoms.

According to the stage of Parkinson's disease, it can be divided into susceptible stage, high-risk stage and motor symptom state stage. The so-called high-risk stage means that the disease has already occurred, but symptoms such as tremor and bradykinesia have not yet appeared, but symptoms such as loss of smell, constipation, sleep disorders, depression, etc. will appear. Depression is the most easily ignored symptom of Parkinson's disease. According to data, about 40% of Parkinson's patients have anxiety symptoms, and about 1/3 have depression symptoms. Therefore, when taking medication, psychological treatment for Parkinson's patients should also keep up. Parkinson's patients should also work hard to resolve negative emotions, step out of their own closed little world, adjust their emotions, and control their condition. The families of Parkinson's patients should also give them warmth and care.