25 Jun Surprising Facts About Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is a well-recognized movement disorder in the field of medical science. But, this is one ailment that hasn’t yet found a cause, nor a cure. It is a very frustrating condition for the patient where he has to encounter involuntary shaking of the limbs, stiffness, and slowness of movement. Till date, there hasn’t been a permanent cure for the condition, since there is no proper cause yet found for the condition. Temporary medications, injections, and surgeries have been founded to treat these patients, but there is still a long way to go for medical science to find an appropriate treatment for the ailment. If you or your loved one is suffering from this frustrating condition, you can get in touch with Dr. Shivam Mittal, the Parkinson’s disease specialist in UAE, who is very well recognized and trusted to cure all kinds of movement disorders in children and adults.
While the research for the disorder continues, there are certain amazingly unbelievable facts about Parkinson’s disease that have been discovered. Till now, we all have known the very basic symptoms associated with Parkinson’s that include tremors, stiffness, slowness, impaired balance, depression, balance loss, and falls. But, how many of us know that Parkinson’s is also associated with the patient having a typical smell, the disease being triggered by MPTP, the disease being able to attack toddlers, or farmers being at greater risk of encountering the condition? Strange, but true! There are evidences that have proved all of the above being right. Here are the stories behind these four amazing facts about Parkinson’s disease, which have paved the way to better researching for a cure for the condition.
Parkinson’s Disease patients have a typical smell
Joy Milne was married to Les, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease more than a decade after Joy had noticed a distinct change in his smell. Obviously, she couldn’t link to the relation between his ailment and smell at that time, but years later, when she encountered a group of people suffering from the ailment, she noticed the same musky smell coming from them. This is when she deduced that Parkinson’s disease did have a smell. To make this assumption a definite call, she was made to smell 12 Tshirts – 6 of which were of Parkinson’s disease patients, and 6 of which were of normal people. She identified 7 being of Parkinson’s patients and 5 being of those without the ailment. Her sense of smell was not proven 100% accurate then, but 8 months later, when the 7th out of the group of 12 was diagnosed of having Parkinson’s, she made headlines for being the lady who could identify Parkinson’s by no diagnoses other than the smell of her nose! This makes the point clear that Parkinson’s does have a distinctive smell, and one that is observed months or even years before the disorder strikes. While science hasn’t yet been able to come up with such a diagnosis, but if this distinctive smell can be identified at the earliest, millions of patients can be treated and cured even before the ailment occurs!
Parkinson’s Disease is triggered by MPTP
This story goes back to the year 1982, when a certain George Carillo was seen to develop the symptoms of Parkinson’s overnight. It became apparent after much investigation that Carillo had taken a street drug designed as a synthetic heroin, contaminated with a chemical called MPTP, which was the cause for triggering the symptoms of Parkinson’s. Carillo, and many others who had taken the same drug, were treated with levodopa, the same treatment given to Parkinson’s disease patients. After this case, it was researched and found that MPTP gets converted into a toxic molecule called MPP+ in the brain, which caused Parkinson’s. the transformation was caused by an enzyme called ACE-B, which deduced that ACE-inhibitor-drugs could prevent the symptoms.
Parkinson’s Disease can attack toddlers
Parkinson’s is generally observed in people above the age of 50-55, with the risk exponentially increasing with risk. But, there are also conditions of early-onset Parkinson’s where it can attack between the age of 21-45, which accounts for 5-10% of all Parkinson’s cases. In fact, this can even go below the age of 21, where it is classified as juvenile Parkinson’s. To support this fact, a 2 year old toddler in Canada was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2016, which has been the youngest example ever seen!
Farmers are at a greater risk of Parkinson’s Disease
Pesticides have long been linked to Parkinson’s with lots of evidence substantiating the condition. There are in particular three pesticides that can increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s, namely ziram, maneb, and paraquat. And, when pesticides are in connection with Parkinson’s, it is commonsensical that farmers are definitely at high risk.
