The Shaking Palsy
This is an adapted excerpt from Chapter 2 of my new book; please enjoy!
“The history of Parkinson’s disease begins with Dr. James Parkinson. He wrote a scholarly review in 1817 entitled, ‘Essay on the Shaking Palsy’”
I myself had heard of Parkinson’s Disease before I even showed symptoms but I really knew nothing about it. I started my quest for PD knowledge after my diagnosis. I strongly believe that if you can understand the impact of any stimuli on both your mind and body, you can then better control your emotional and behavioral responses.
The history of Parkinson’s disease begins with Dr. James Parkinson. He wrote a scholarly review in 1817 entitled, “Essay on the Shaking Palsy”. It described his observation of six case studies and three patients seen on the streets of London. Jean-Martin Charcot built on this work over fifty years later with much more detailed descriptions of the major motor disorders, especially on Bradykinesia (stiffness). There are traditional East Indian texts and ancient Chinese writings which describe various symptoms of Parkinson, but western medicine recognizes Dr. Parkinson as the pioneer researcher of the disease.
What causes Parkinson’s disease? A good question; no one really knows. It was first observed in patients when approximately 70% of a person’s substantia nigra — a section of the Basal Ganglia in your brain — died off. The body could no longer produce enough Dopaminergic agents to allow the nervous system to operate smoothly. Parkinson’s is classified as an idiopathic disease, which means professionals are not sure what causes Parkinson’s. To this day, there is no known cure for Parkinson’s.
An array of treatments and therapies have been put forward as the number of people living with the disease explodes. There is little chance for science, through empirical studies, to isolate a cure as there are too many variables of how the disease impacts people. The Baby Boomer generation is aging into prime Parkinson’s diagnosis age range. The current number of new diagnoses, 60,000 per year, should triple in size over the next ten years. You can do the math on that one!
There are schools of thought that believe one of the causes may come from a genetic predisposition to the disease, as several genes — such as PARK1, PARK4, GBA, and LRRK2 — have been identified as having a significant risk factor associated with them. Obtaining a genetic code report from a reputable lab could be very helpful for you to have, and this would also assist researchers of Parkinson’s disease. By sharing this information with appropriate entities, we can only help to reduce, even eliminate our lack of knowledge regarding what causes Parkinson’s.
Unfortunately, I know many people who do not want to do the genetic testing for fear of what they might learn. But I want you to consider that if we overcome fear, we can gain much more clarity. You could discover why learning about the disease can be an important journey in staying as healthy as you can be. When you are first diagnosed and hit with the reality of your mortality, fear is a natural phenomenon. Your mind is attempting to wrap around this new normal for you, which is only partially known. The quicker you can intellectually learn the truth about ALL facets of your Parkinson’s disease, the quicker you can dissipate the fear from your mindset.
Ingestion of environmental toxins — from ground water or foods — has been another long thought cause. This factor is harder to study because it is probably a long-term impact from whatever toxins you were exposed to many years ago. Those toxins now reside within your gut, and they will eventually lead to the death of the dopamine producing brain cells.
Intracellular damage from a build-up of alpha-synuclein proteins, called Lewy bodies, is another suspected culprit. For some reason, people with Parkinson’s have a propensity to have their alpha-synuclein start coiling into structures, which then begin clotting together to form damaging bodies within the cell. Eventually, enough of these alpha-synuclein structures clot together and form Lewy bodies. It is believed this tying together of intracellular “trash” is what kills the cells. Once you lose +70% of these brain cells in the substantia negra, you start to exhibit signs of Parkinson’s.
Stay strong, God’s speed,
Greg Ritscher
Be sure to post in the comments below if you have some thoughts you want to share with everyone. Also, check out my new book, I wrote it for all of us!
