Outside The Lines: Grant Battles Parkinson’s Disease

21.07.10 / parkinsons disease / Author: Alex
Tags: Battles, Disease, Grant, Lines, Outside, parkinsons

Outside The Lines profiles former NBA forward Brian Grant’s struggle with Parkinson’s.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Mistaken Beliefs About Parkinson’s Disease

When members of the general public see a person with Parkinson’s disease, especially those with pronounced symptoms they come to a whole host of conclusions about that person without any knowledge of them or their lifestyle. Because of this there are many mistaken beliefs about the disease which really need to be rectified is Parkinson’s sufferers are going to lead a normal life.

For example many people believe that Parkinson’s disease affects the whole brain so that mental functioning is compromised. Some of the symptoms of late Parkinson’s disease include speech problems, spasmodic body and face movements, drooling and possibly problems with memory but this does not mean that Parkinson’s sufferers have lost their mind or are imbeciles. The mind of a Parkinson’s sufferer continues to work perfectly well and they are capable of understanding everything you say to them. Their only problem is that they experience difficulties communicating back and so if an alternative method of communication is devised you can still hold an intelligent conversation with any Parkinson’s disease sufferer.

Similarly if a person says ‘my partner has Parkinson’s disease’ people will assume that

a) the persons partner is old and

b) the persons partner is totally reliant on somebody else

Both of these assumptions are very naïve and ultimately wrong. Although Parkinson’s disease does affect people over the age of 50 more than those under the age of 50, it is not exclusively an ‘old person’ disease. Early-onset Parkinson’s is relatively rare (around 10% of all diagnosed cases) but it does exist and it can affect people of any age. Also, just because a person has been diagnosed as having Parkinson’s disease this doesn’t mean that they suddenly lose their independence. People can live for many years with Parkinson’s disease without having to rely on anyone but themselves. It is only in the late stage of the disease when some of the symptoms have become severe that Parkinson’s sufferers need help with certain aspects of their life such as walking and bathing.

So let us say that you go to a social event and you meet the person with Parkinson’s disease. You and everybody else may not even realise that they have the condition because contrary to popular belief not all sufferers have visible tremors or mobility problems, especially in the early stages of the disease. Every Parkinson’s sufferer will have different symptoms that are present to different extents and although tremors are the most common symptom of the disease at least 20% of sufferers never have a tremor in their life. They may drop things and fall over a lot but these aren’t really events you would associate with Parkinson’s disease even though they are symptoms of the condition. Thus assuming that everybody with Parkinson’s disease shakes a lot is another common misconception.

There are literally hundreds of beliefs regarding Parkinson’s disease that are very wrong and simply by doing a bit of research many of these ideas could be dismissed for good however people in general don’t want to spend time sorting fact from fiction and so the misguided ideas continue to form in the heads of the uneducated.

Man with possible dementia may get strike
The 69-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease and possible dementia who was charged with assault after grabbing the breasts of a woman in his care home would be excused from trial if he was found to have a mental impairment, Police and Corrections Minister Judith Collins says.
Read more on NZPA via Yahoo!Xtra News

Question by I’m in pieces…baby fix me: How long do people live after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease?
My grandfather is 80 years old, very tall and thin. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease about a year ago. He is on medication but it seems to have stopped working now. My grandparents live in a very desolate area and I doubt he will be able to get new medication.

How long does he have? On average?

Best answer:

Answer by Marielle
I am so sorry to hear of this. Parkinson’s disease as you know is not curable and hard to even treat. I wish I could give you an exact time frame but, not even a doctor knows. Some people I have taken care of had it for 20 yr before passing away. Other people have it for 6 mon. and pass away. Not to minimize your grandfather but only to help you understand…. he is 80 years old. He is at life expectancy. He has accomplished a lot in those 80 years and will leave a great legacy. So please start focusing on all that he has done. Start collecting pictures, awards, certificates, newspaper clippings, etc. Talk to family members and ask them questions and write down all that you can remember. Look forward to making a book that can be put together in a nice hard covered journal. If he served in any foreign wars find out if he has metals.
What a great memorial book you can make about your grandfather. You have a lot of work to do in a short time.
So the key thing is to focus on what he accomplished and done and let nature take its course in how much time he has left

Add your own answer in the comments!

Prepping for Parkinson’s 5K Walk @ Fun Run 2008


Image by gebl
(C)Gebl 2008