What Are the Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease?
The earliest symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease is most often tremor of a limb, particularly when the body is resting. For most people diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, their first warning comes when a leg suddenly starts shaking while they’re laying in bed, and won’t stop. The tremor may affect a hand, a foot, a leg or an arm. It most commonly affects only one side of the body at first, and it may be years before it affects any more than that one limb.
While the tremor is the most commonly reported early symptom, in some people it never develops at all. Other common symptoms include bradykinesia – slow movement. It may feel like your hand or your arm is just not responding to your will to move it for a few seconds. You go to move your hand and it just doesn’t respond. A more severe manifestation of the disturbance of communication between your brain and body is akinesia – the inability to move a part of your body. Parkinson’s may also cause rigidity of the limbs and a fixed facial expression as the muscles of the face become less responsive to the messages from the brain.
Michael J. Fox, actor and producer, who was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s Disease at age 29, described his experience with the disease in a best-selling book. Lucky Man. In some of the most poignant passages of the book, he describes his ‘battle’ with his hand, which insisted on trembling when he didn’t want it to. In his own words, it was as if that hand wasn’t a part of him, and he both hated and was embarrassed by it.
That embarrassment isn’t uncommon, according to many experts in the field of Parkinson’s treatment and research. While the characteristic tremor that announces Parkinson’s Disease is one of the least debilitating symptoms, many with the disease find it the most embarrassing, and go to great lengths to hide it. They may hide the hand in a pocket or behind their back to keep anyone from seeing it shaking without their conscious volition.
As the disease progresses, the symptoms become more pronounced. The tremor and other effects may spread from the single affected limb to the other limb on the same side, and eventually to the limbs on the other side. This progress can take as much as 50 years in some patients. The progress of the disease varies from patient to patient. Among the symptoms that Parkinson’s Disease may display are:
Limb tremors
Rigidity of the limbs
Slowed movements as the muscles fail to respond to directives from the brain
Difficulty walking and a characteristic shuffling gait
Stooped posture
Limited facial movements
Dementia
Balance disturbances leading to falls
Micrographia (small, cramped and illegible writing)
Monotonous voice tone
Soft voice
Sexual dysfunctions
Doctors point out that it is impossible to predict the progress of the disease in individual patients, though their own history may provide a barometer.