Monterey, CA Parkinson’s Disease Can Take A Terrible Toll

A woman is helping an older man with his shirt off.


Like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s can be a devastating disease which can take a heavy toll on your body. There have been few new treatments for both diseases, which has been disappointing. The disease hasn’t gotten a lot of attention from researchers until last December when a report said that Parkinson’s disease strikes 90,000 older Americans each year, 3x the previous estimate of 30,000 per year. See a neurologist if you suspect that you or a loved one may be noticing shaking and other symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Carmel, CA Parkinson’s Disease Can Take A Terrible Toll

A person putting an ear piece in to a persons ear.


Like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s can be a devastating disease which can take a heavy toll on your body.  There have been few new treatments for both diseases, which has been disappointing.  The disease hasn’t gotten a lot of attention from researchers until last December when a report said that Parkinson’s disease strikes 90,000 older Americans each year, 3x the previous estimate of 30,000 per year.  See a neurologist if you suspect that you or a loved one may be noticing shaking and other symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Monterey, CA Parkinson’s Disease Can Take A Terrible Toll

A person putting an ear piece in to a persons ear.


Like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s can be a devastating disease which can take a heavy toll on your body.  There have been few new treatments for both diseases, which has been disappointing.  The disease hasn’t gotten a lot of attention from researchers until last December when a report said that Parkinson’s disease strikes 90,000 older Americans each year, 3x the previous estimate of 30,000 per year.  See a neurologist if you suspect that you or a loved one may be noticing shaking and other symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Personalized Stem Cell Treatments Are Being Developed For Parkinson’s Disease

A nurse is caring for an elderly woman.


Human trials are about to begin to see if scientists can reverse-engineer a sick person’s cells to develop personalized stem cell treatments for diseases which are hard to treat.  Parkinson’s Disease will be a big focus of this project, as well as macular degeneration and damaged hearts.  Aspen Neuroscience is one of several groups participating in these trials.  In Parkinson’s Disease, neurons die and lose the ability to make the chemical dopamine.  This results in uncontrollable shaking.  Aspen Neuroscience will test whether injecting new cells based on the person’s own DNA, can stop a person from shaking.  This is great news as Parkinson’s is a very debilitating disease.

New Treatment For Parkinson’s Disease And Essential Tremor

A man in white lab coat and tie.


Parkinson’s Disease and Essential Tremor, a nervous system disorder that also causes involuntary shaking, can be very debilitating and to date, there have been few effective treatments.  Recently, many patients have obtained relief by having incisionless brain surgery, called focused ultrasound.  A recent study found that focused ultrasound reduced tremors by 38-50% for people with essential tremor and for those with Parkinson’s disease it eased tremors, muscle rigidity and uncontrolled movements caused by the Parkinson’s medication levodopa by 76%.  The therapy is currently FDA-approved for treating symptoms on one side of the body, and studies of bilateral procedures are on the way.

How To Travel When You Have Parkinson’s Disease

A woman looking out of the window at her home.


Getting back to travelling regularly now that COVID-19 has become an exciting prospect for those that have been cooped up at home for years.  But if you are disabled, this can be a challenge.  USA Today recently ran an interesting article about traveling with Parkinson’s, which in addition to tremors can cause disorientation which sometimes leads to falls.  It recommends starting slow, with small trips around town, and just see what types of obstacles that you run into.  By testing the use of public restrooms, navigating uneven surfaces in dirt, rock, grass and wood-chipped terrain, you can quickly find out which areas you are comfortable trying with a walker.  And during this process, it can also boost your confidence.  You will probably need to book a hotel room which is ADA compliant.  You may also be able to rent a wheelchair at your destination.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2022/04/07/vacation-parkinsons-disease-trip/7048284001/

New Hope For Parkinson’s Disease Victims

A person holding hands with another person in bed.


There has been a dearth of new drugs and treatment options for those suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.  It’s extremely debilitating and often comes with the unfortunate side effect of dementia.  However, the Michael J. Fox Foundation and other organizations have recently come up with options for the disease which impacts 1 million Americans and for which 60K new cases are diagnosed each year.  In the three decades since Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with the disease, it has become the fastest growing brain disease.  Only Alzheimer’s disease has more victims.  Thanks to an explosion of funding for the disease (Michael J. Fox Foundation has provided $1 billion in funding since its formation in 2020 and the National Institutes for Health (NIH) provided $242 million in funding in 2020) “we have turned the corner,†according to Haydeh Payami, a professor of neurology and genetics at the University of Alabama’s Birmingham School of Medicine.  Some highlights of recent development include:

  • In 2018 a clinical trial found that high-intensity treadmill workouts three times a week meaningfully slowed the progression of Parkinson’s during the six months of the study.
  • Significant research has been done on personalized genetic medicine. Dozens of genetic misfires are now suspected of being responsible for Parkinson’s disease.  You can find clinical trials at clinicaltrials.gov.
  • A huge observational study called the Parkinson’s Progressive Markers Initiative (PPMI) is trying to find cases early by monitoring symptoms that sometimes precede the typical tremors such as loss of sense of smell, constipation and sleeping disorders. The study is targeting enrolling 4,000 people in person and a whopping 500k online to identify markers that can lead to new treatments.
  • The biggest success has been with surgically implanted brain stimulators which use electrical impulses to improve symptoms such as tremors and rigidity. In 2020, the FDA approved Medtronic’s new stimulator with BrainSense Technology.  It can sense and record the brain’s electrical signals.  It is now in clinical trials for something called ADAPT-PD which is testing whether the BrainSense technology recordings can be used to adjust stimulation automatically.

https://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/info-2021/parkinsons-research.html

Recognizing The Signs of Parkinson’s Disease : By Derek Baine, Carmel, CA

A doctor and patient looking at a book


Parkinson’s is a terrible disease which along with the normal shaking that most people are familiar with often results in dementia.  It’s very sad to watch. The disease, which there is very little treatment for, can come on with different symptoms in different people.  Some develop a range of motor symptoms like tremors, stiffness and slow movements, while others may experience more non-motor symptoms like anxiety, cognitive changes and even the loss of smell.  This has to do with dopamine, which helps the brain control coordination, emotional responses and movement.  When you develop Parkinson’s disease, the brain cells that produce dopamine start dying out.  If you believe that a loved one is showing symptoms, see a specialist like a neurologist immediately.

The Number Of Cases Of Parkinson’s Disease Are Exploding : The Reason Is Frightening

A person holding a stethoscope in their hand.


Researchers believe that a common chemical used in dry cleaning and household products such as shoe polish and carpet cleaning are causing the number of diagnoses of Parkinson’s disease to soar dramatically.  The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, estimates that about 250 million pounds of the chemical Trichloroethylene, or TCE, are used every year in the U.S.  Dr. Ray Dorsey, a neurologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center and the author of “Ending Parkinson’s Disease†says, “We’re on the tip of a very, very large iceberg.â€Â  He predicts an epidemic of Parkinson’s disease is on the horizon.  The number of cases has risen by 35% over the last ten years.  TCE has been banned in the EU and other places and hopefully they will do the same thing in the U.S.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/07/rates-of-parkinsons-disease-are-exploding-a-common-chemical-may-be-to-blame