Medical Keywords - Everything you need to know about health.

Signs and Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease

The symptoms of Parkinson's disease are caused by a group of specific brain cells called neurons that slowly and progressively become injured and degenerate and die. The symptoms caused by this degenerative process cause the major symptoms of Parkinson's including tremors, rigidity and stiffness, gait irregularities, and balance and coordination problems. The tremors are involuntary trembling of your limbs. Rigidity refers to stiffness of muscles, and Akinesia is the lack of movement or slowness in starting or maintaining a movement. Postural instability is the characteristic bending of the body, associated with difficulty in maintaining balance or disturbances in gait.

Other early signs of Parkinson's include facial expressions that are changed from your normal such as a lack of smile, staring, or a lack of blinking; failure to swing one arm when you are walking, stooped posture, frozen or painful shoulder, limping or dragging of one leg, discomfort in the neck, limbs which may also include numbness, tingling, or a achy feeling; your voice softens, internal trembling, and tremors when your body is at rest.

Early signs of Parkinson's may be mild and slow to progress. The tremor or shaking of a limb is perhaps the most well known sign of Parkinson's. Another common early sign of Parkinson's is the slowed motion. When someone is walking and the movement has become slowed the person may shuffle or take short steps. Rigid muscles will cause decreased movement in joints and a feeling of pain causing decreased range of motion. The disease may cause your posture to become stooped, which may throw off your balance. You may experience a loss of automatic movement such as blinking, smiling, and swinging your arms back and forth at your sides. Some individuals with Parkinson's disease develop a fixed star with unblinking eyes. Some individuals will cease to gesture while they speak as they used to do. Your speech may change such as speaking softer, or more rapidly, or even in a monotone. You may slur your words, stutter, or hesitate before speaking. Dementia is another symptom of Parkinson's disease and occurs in the alter stages of the disease. Patients will start to lose mental clarity and memory.

Not everyone will experience the same signs and symptoms or even experience them at the same point in the disease. There are major symptoms that most patients experience but patients do not necessary experience the major symptoms. The lack of consistency in symptoms is one reason why Parkinson's disease is difficult to diagnosis. It is vital that you keep a good record of your symptoms when you go to your doctor appointment for a diagnosis because the diagnosis will be made based on your symptoms. When you write down your symptoms you won't have to rely on your memory to recall the details about your symptoms.