Mum with Parkinson’s Disease

11.09.10 / parkinsons disease / Author: Alex
Tags: ,

Nicole MacConaghie has finally admitted she needs help. The Paraparaumu Mum is one of the youngest New Zealanders with Parkinson’s Disease. She receives Ministry of Health funding for her own needs but no support to help look after her pre-schooler
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Parkinson’s – Various Causes

There are various reasons why Parkinson’s disease affects your body. ‘Arteriosclerotic Parkinson’s Disease,’ which is hardening of the ar­teries. Scientists have demonstrated that if hardening of the arteries happens in the area of the brain known as the basal ganglia – where the “manager of steadiness” is situated – typical symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease will result.

Then there is ‘Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease’ this is where a patient can give no history of any important previous illnesses whatsoever to account for the disease. “It just came on gradually,” they often say.

Another possible cause of Parkinson’s disease is shock and distress.

 

Some physicians tell about patient that say this; “There was a death in the family, and right after that their arm began to shake. Tell me, Doc­tor, do you think that nervous shock gave me the dis­ease?”  Or “I had a bad accident and right after that incident my arm started shaking.”

 

These are very often the words of Parkinson’s patients when they first consult a physician.

 

There are Parkinson’s cases that started after the person had a traumatic accident, that kicked-off the symptoms of Parkin­son’s Disease.

 

There are many people that believe that Parkinson’s disease started after a traumatic event in the patient’s life.

 

But many Parkinson’s disease specialists do not believe that emotional shocks or accidents play any significant part in the cause of the disease. Though there is little doubt, that such influences can certainly aggravate the disease, either temporarily or permanently, if it already exists.

 

Many Parkinson’s sufferers have certainly noticed a setback in their health after some emotional crisis or physical injury. Sometimes these setbacks persist long after the setback occurred.

Beth Maxwell had a parent suffering from this dreadful disease.

Learn more about Parkinson’s disease and how to help a loved one at: www.aboutparkinsons-disease.com

‘Murphy to Manteo’ runners in Charlotte area today
LINCOLNTON, N.C. — Three women are running across the state of North Carolina to raise money for Parkinson’s disease, and today they’re in the Charlotte area. Lisa Tew, Kristy Tomicki and Shay Mendes are nearly 170 miles into their journey, running from Murphy to Manteo. Wednesday morning, the women began running on Buffalo Shoals Road in Lincolnton, headed toward Mooresville. They’re planning …
Read more on WCNC Charlotte

Question by kevin: What system does Parkinson’s disease affect?
I know it affects the autonomic central nervous system. But more specifically, does it affect the sympathetic or parasympathetic system?

Best answer:

Answer by Marquise V
The Nervous System which is why people with Parkinsons disease often have shaky hands and pain.

Give your answer to this question below!

Comments: 9

Misscatskill // September 11th, 2010 - 12:52 pm

The govt / state will pay for this child to be cared for in foster care, but not pay for him to be cared for in his mother’s care?????? They system sucks! What the hell!

bpyjktgiuk // September 11th, 2010 - 1:21 pm

Brain chip – CHECK MY SITE.

flatsignedbooks // September 11th, 2010 - 1:25 pm

RIP

Grievous1970 // September 11th, 2010 - 1:51 pm

VICTIM IDENTIFIED IN FATAL KAPITI HOUSE FIRE
New Zealand Police Wellington News Release
4:19pm 27 June 2008
Dental records have been used to confirm the identity of the Paraparaumu woman who died in a house fire at her Aorangi Road home early yesterday morning.
She was Ms Nicole Maconaghie, aged 34, of Paraparaumu.
Detective Sergeant James McKay, Kapiti CIB, said police have referred the woman’s death to the coroner.
Police are not treating the fire as suspicious.
Ends

melonscoffer123 // September 11th, 2010 - 2:27 pm

having that bloody selfish child adopted might help her

Checkbetraise // September 11th, 2010 - 3:17 pm

Shes not the only one, iknow one mor that have more problems then here.
but im sorry for here anyway, but my mom have parkins plus, progressive supranu nuclear pares.

CSIAddict // September 11th, 2010 - 4:03 pm

You deserve to have your son back I am praying for you and your family

AndrewKFletcher // September 11th, 2010 - 4:52 pm

Nicole

Check out “inclined bed therapy” on google, read carefully. I have had success with PD and would be glad to help you for free.

Mags // September 11th, 2010 - 4:54 pm

While Parkinson’s seems to begin as a disease of the central nervous system, it actually affects most of the systems in the body.

Because Parkinson’s is a chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease, it can eventually work its way through all systems: digestive (gastrointestinal), respiratory and circulatory systems, musculoskeletal. excretory and urinary systems, reproductive system, immune system, endocrine system.
http://www.kidskonnect.com/subject-index/31-health/337-human-body.html

The autonomic nervous system controls heart rate, digestion, respiration rate, salivation, perspiration, diameter of the pupils, the discharge of urine, and sexual arousal. Although most of its actions are involuntary, some ANS functions work together with the conscious mind, in breathing for example. Common symptoms of a problem are erectile dysfunction, dizziness, decrease in blood pressure and urinary incontinence; all of which are common to PD.

Since your question is also specific to the parasympathetic nervous system, read the abstract below (link also provided) and then you can find your own words. The important thing to know is that not all PD patients develop Lewy bodies. But the dementia caused by their presence is found in both Parkinson’s disease with dementia (PDD) and in Lewy Body Disorder (LBD) with parkinsonian symptoms. A third condition associated with lewy bodies is ANS.

“Lewy body formation has been considered to be a marker for neuronal degeneration, because postmortem studies of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients have shown loss of neurons in the predilection sites for Lewy bodies. We systemically studied the autonomic nervous system in patients with PD. Lewy bodies were widely distributed in the hypothalamus, sympathetic system (intermediolateral nucleus of the thoracic cord and sympathetic ganglia) and parasympathetic system (dorsal vagal and sacral parasympathetic nuclei). The number of neurons in the intermediolateral nucleus was significantly reduced. Furthermore, Lewy bodies were also found in the enteric nervous system of the alimentary tract, cardiac plexus, pelvic plexus and adrenal medulla. These findings indicate that both central and peripheral autonomic nervous systems are involved in the disease process in PD.”
http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Doi=113469

Another relation comes with orthostatic hypotension and the sudden drop in blood pressure upon standing. This can become common in PD because it is a side effect of aging and in one sense, PD is very accelerated aging of select neurons which result in the many symptoms of aging.

You can read about the imbalance between the autonomic and the parasympathetic nervous system
in ANS disorder: “Malfunction of the ANS is called autonomic failure. It results from an imbalance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions. Aging is associated with several abnormalities in ANS function that can impair elderly people’s adaptation to stress.

The most common signs of ANS impairment are a drop in blood pressure when a person is standing or stands up suddenly (orthostatic hypotension) or a drop in blood pressure within one hour of eating a meal (postprandial hypotension).

The drop in blood pressure causes inadequate blood flow to the brain. That’s why it’s common for people with this problem to feel dizzy or lightheaded. These conditions occur more often in people with high blood pressure.

Several abnormalities make normal elderly people more likely to have low blood pressure. The onset of disease in old age, such as diabetes, stroke and Parkinson’s disease, as well as medications used to treat them, may have other adverse effects in the ANS that are obvious in the cardiovascular system.”
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4463

You might also be interested in reading about the clinical trial which is currently enrolling by invitation only in Finland.
Duodenal Levodopa Infusion, Quality of Life and Autonomic Nervous System in Parkinson’s Disease
“Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders with increasing prevalence because of aging population. The main symptoms include rigidity, hypokinesia, tremor and impaired balance, but the disease also causes autonomic dysfunction. Motor fluctuations are common treatment related problems in PD, around 50-70% of patients treated with levodopa finally develop motor fluctuations. Continuous duodenal levodopa infusion has been effective in the treatment of motor dysfunction in advanced PD. However, little is known of its effects on autonomic nervous system”
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00914134

This is another area in general research and there is not the body of information to help answer everything.

Leave a Reply

« | »