World Parkinson's Day 2012

Why Parkinson’s Day is Celebrated?

World Parkinson's Day is celebrated to raise awareness of Parkinson's disease and how it effects on individuals, families and the wider spectrum of community. Greater awareness will cut down the stigma associated with the disease, enhanced community understanding and awareness will lead to better quality of life for those suffering with the condition.

How Parkinson’s Day is Celebrated?

People all over the globe walk, run, bicycle, dance, speak, don flowers, attend conferences, deliver speeches, attend dinners, donate money, donate time, and generally give themselves in order to find a cure for PD and spread awareness in this regard.

History of Parkinson

In 1990s scientists believed that a cure for PD could possibly be found within 10 years if research endeavors were fully funded. PD research funding has never been sufficient nevertheless and search for a cure are still just on. Progress, nonetheless, has been made in finding ways to better the quality of life of persons suffering with PD.

What is Parkinson Disease

Parkinson's is a growing neurological condition. More specifically, it’s a disorder of central nervous system. Someone in the UK is developing Parkinson's every hour. One person in every 500 is suffering with Parkinson's. That comes to about 120,000 people in the UK.

Facts about Parkinson Disease

Most people who get Parkinson's are of the age group of 50 or over but younger people are also not spared. One in 20 people are under the age of 40. Individuals suffering with Parkinson's don't have sufficient chemical termed as dopamine as some nerve cells in their brain have died.

How it affects the Life

Without dopamine people cannot perform daily activities in an expected speed. Their movements become slower and it takes longer to perform any task. The loss of nerve cells in the brain is the reason behind Parkinson.

Every Case if Unique

Every case of Parkinson’s is unique and not everyone observes and witnesses the same symptoms. For example, not all people get tremor and for some, rigidity is the primitive symptom. With modern drugs, symptoms can be kept under control.

Causes of Parkinson

Parkinson’s is a neurological disorder that is believed to be one of the most general neurological disorders.

It’s caused by the destruction of nerve cells in a small portion of the brain termed as the substantia nigra that generate the neurotransmitter dopamine. A similar elimination occurs with growing age also, but in Parkinson’s the phenomenon is more rapid. Certain particular nerve cells are damages, which lead to the major symptoms of stiffness of muscles, tremor and slowness of movement.

Symptoms of Parkinson

Body’s movement control is impaired. Other troubles that are not related to movement can also be observed i.e. pain, sleep disturbance and somber these are known as ‘non-motor symptoms’. 

Treatment of Parkinson

Scientists and researchers have not yet been able to search a way to cure Parkinson's or cut down its progression, although this is considered to be an area of great research. 
Parkinson’s is a life-changing, not a life-threatening illness, so you can die with it, not due to it. 
Research also shows that in majority of cases Parkinson’s is not found to be hereditary.  There are expected to be several genes that incline an individual to developing Parkinson's along with environmental factors.

Currently there is no genetic test available to ascertain if a person will develop the condition.

Conclusion

Keeping in view the above statistics, it can be easily figured out that Parkinson is a progressive disorder of nervous system, cure of which has not yet been found.

Hence, it is always suggested to keep a watch on the symptoms of Parkinson if you are at the wrong side of your age so that the disorder could be diagnosed at the accurate time to enhance the quality of your life at the right time.