March 13, 2024
Welcome to The Climb, your weekly journey with Lifecycle Sherpa, where we explore Parkinson’s Disease, its symptoms, treatments, tips, techniques, and build a supportive and knowledgeable community.
This week’s trail leads us to…symptoms
Question: Did you know there are TWO CATEGORIES of symptoms for Parkinson’s Disease?
Category 1: Motor Symptoms: An observable change in functionality of the body’s movement, like tremors, slow movement (bradykinesia), uncontrolled movements (dyskinesia), freezing, stiffness (rigidity), small incomplete movements (hypokinesia), postural instability (balance problems).
Category 2: Non-Motor Symptoms: Other changes to the person as a result of degeneration of the brain.
There are THREE categories on non-motor symptoms:
- Autonomic Dysfunction: The autonomic nervous system controls involuntary physiologic functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, sexual arousal and digestion.
- Cognitive and Psychiatric Symptoms: Ability to think, acquire knowledge and recall memory, as well as control behavior and emotions
- Sleep disorders: Problems with the quality, timing, and amount of sleep
We will delve further into these categories and symptoms in the following weeks.
For more guidance, get a referral to see a physical or occupational therapist to address your specific symptoms. It is always a good idea to learn strategies before the symptoms evolve in order to best fight them off.
We always encourage feedback, as it helps us enhance our community. Feel free to reach out regarding future topics you want to learn about, or how we can improve your experience.
See you next week!
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