Parkinson Disease

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Parkinson disease (PD), also referred to as Parkinson’s disease and paralysis agitans, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is the third most common neurologic disorder of older adults. It is a debilitating disease affecting motor ability and is characterized by four cardinal symptoms: tremor rigidity, bradykinesia or kinesis (slow movement/no movement), and postural instability. Most people have primary, or idiopathic, disease. A few patients have secondary parkinsonian symptoms from conditions such as brain tumors and certain anti-psychotic drugs.

The path physiology of Parkinson’s disease is the pathogenesis if Parkinson disease is unknown. Epidemiologic data suggest genetic, viral, and environmental toxins as possible causes. Nigral and basal loss of neurons with depletion of dopamine, an inhibitory neurotransmitter, is the principal biochemical alteration in Parkinson disease. Symptoms in basal ganglia disorders result from an imbalance of dopaminergic (inhibitory) and cholinergic (excitatory) activity in the caudate and putamen of the basal ganglia.

Parkinson disease begins after the age of 40 years, with peak age of onset between 58 and 62 years. It is slightly more prevalent in males. This disease is one of the most prevalent of the primary CNS disorders and a leading cause of neurologic disability in individuals older than 60 years. The prevalence rate is 107 to 187 per 100,000 persons, with 40,000 new cases in the United States each year.

PD is separated into stages according to the symptoms and degree of disability Stage 1 is mild disease with unilateral limb involvement. Whereas the patient with stage 5 disease is completely dependent in all ADLs. Other classification refer simply to mild, moderate, and ...

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...overtaken her body and the family know how much care Deana will need. By placing Deana in a nursing home where she can get the care she needed, I could only imagine that the decisions from the family were very challenging. Caring for Deana probably was a lot on some or most of the family member. So being honest about the care she needed, the decision made about placement in the nursing home was the best decision they made and in her best interest.

Word cited

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001179/

Ignatavicius, D.D. & Workman, M.L.(2010). Medical-Surgical Nursing: Patient-Centered Collaborative Care. (6th ed.). St. Philadelphia PA: Saunders Elsevier

Huether, S.E. & McCance, K.L. (2008). Understanding pathophysiology (4th ed.). St. Philadelphia, PA: Mosby Elsevier

http://www.definitions.net/definition/patient

http://www.parkinson.org/

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