Parkinson's Disease

A chronic, slowly progressing neurodegenerative movement disorder   that affects 1 in 100 people over the age of 60, though it does tend to affect some families before age 40.  It is caused by the death of neurons (nerve cells) in the brain that produce dopamine, an essential part of the signal process affecting muscle activity.   Characteristic symptoms are tremor in the limbs, ands, and face, slow voluntary movement (bradykinesia), stiffness of the limbs or trunk, and poor balance and coordination.  Initially, the symptoms are mild and occur on one side of the body.  They slowly progress to the other side.  The symptoms become worse over time, severely affecting posture and movement, speech and swallowing, disrupted sleep, impaired vision, and cognitive impairment such as memory loss  and dementia.  There is currently no cure, but medications are given to help control symptoms.