We’ve all heard about the Parkinson’s disease and know what it is essentially associated with. The disease is characterised by tremors on different body parts or the entire body. However you will be surprised to know that Parkinson’s is much more than that.
April is celebrated as Parkinson’s Awareness Month where people volunteer to help patients with the disease and come forward to strike a conversation with them to know more about how the disease affects them and how they feel so that they can serve them better and make people understand how they can be more compassionate and empathetic towards them. April is a month where awareness is spread to every nook and corner by foundations and hospitals that specialise in Parkinson’s disease.
These centres try to create new ways to improve how these patients are looked after and do more research on the disease so that one day it can be completely cured and wiped off the face of the earth.
Know about this disease:
- About one million people in the United States of America are affected by it and each year 50,000 more cases are diagnosed.
- It is a disorder related to movement. What happens is that cells responsible for producing dopamine (dopamine is a transmitter which passes signals from the brain to different body parts) die in the area of the brain known as substantia nigra.
- The parkinson treatment in india in India is very advanced with most hospitals opening their doors to new research and amenities. Ayurveda has also entered the scene to provide help to the patients.
- People who are affected with Parkinson’s are usually above the age of 56. People usually do not have the disease before the age of 50, however the small minority of people who get it before the average age amounts to only 4%. When people get it around the age of 40, it is considered young onset and is extremely rare. Parkinson’s does not affect children in most cases, however the youngest person to have it was 12 years of age.
- It has been proven that there is a positive correlation between depression and Parkinson’s. Around 40 percent of the patients diagnosed with the disease are suffering from anxiety and around 50 percent from depression.
- Sadly no cure has been found for this disease. It can be kept in control but cannot be removed completely. There are medications to keep the tremors at a low but nothing permanent is available. There is a procedure known as deep brain stimulation where a current passes through the body to block various symptoms of the disease, essentially tremors.
Parkinson’s is not cheap. If you’re diagnosed with the disease prepare yourself to spend tens and thousands of rupees a year to keep it in check. Medication is expensive but more expensive than that is the therapeutic treatment. The brain stimulation therapy can cause a deep hole in your pocket. However Parkinson’s is covered by most health insurances so if you have one, you are secure.