Case Study: Parkinson's Disease

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Recommended: Parkinson’s disease is a progressive, neurodegenerative condition

There is not a reason known as to why a person contracts Parkinson’s disease. There is no mystery as to what causes it, but when it comes to a cure and why it happens, that is the real mystery that medical experts have been trying to discover for years. When it comes down to some cases, Parkinson’s disease is genetically linked to a past relative. Other than the genetically inherited cases, no one knows why Parkinson’s disease strikes the people it does. When a person is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, they will find that as the condition progresses, they lose control of their body more and more every day.

Parkinson’s disease is a disorder of the nervous system, and occurs when the brain cells that are in charge of producing dopamine in the body start to slow down the dopamine making process and/or stop it all together. These dopamine producing cells can be found in a grouping of cells called the substantia nigra, which is found in the mesencephalon, also known as the midbrain. What dopamine does is it sends the electrical signals in the brain between the dopamine producing nerve cells from the substantia nigra to the corpus striatum (part of the forebrain). With the right flow of electrical signals between nerve cells, your body will produce smooth muscle movements. When the production of the dopamine is interrupted, slows down, or comes to a stop, this will cause a lack of dopamine. With this lack of dopamine, the muscles in the body will produce shaky and jerky movements instead of the smooth and graceful movements which those muscles are used to. Disrupted for long enough, and during an acute attack of Parkinson’s disease, the dopamine producing cells and the tissue around them will then start to die off causing a short...

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... Clinic, February 15th, 2011

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/parkinsons-disease/DS00295/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs

May Clinic, February 15th, 2011

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/parkinsons-disease/DS00295/DSECTION=lifestyle-and-home-remedies

May Clinic, February 15th, 2011

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/parkinsons-disease/DS00295/DSECTION=alternative-medicine

May Clinic, February 15th, 2011

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/parkinsons-disease/DS00295/DSECTION=prevention

May Clinic, February 15th, 2011

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/parkinsons-disease/DS00295/DSECTION=risk-factors

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), October 18th, 2004

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/parkinsons_disease/parkinsons_disease_backgrounder.htm

Pub Med Health, May 6th, 2011

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001762/

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