Parkinson’s disease is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world, and still without a cure.
You’re collecting the main meal. Jolly banter in the queue. Suddenly, the tray slips – scalded hands and the chef’s special bakso (meatball soup) splashes down the backs of fellow diners. This happens most often at formal functions and guarantees blacklisting. An aberration – or the uncontrollable shakes?
Parkinson’s sounds like an exclusive English fashion brand. Sadly, there’s nothing posh about ‘the fastest growing neurological condition in the world and the second most common after dementia’.
About 50 new cases of the disease are diagnosed in Australia every day, with an estimated 150,000 patients across the wide drown land.
Don’t confuse this with Alzheimer’s, now the leading cause of death. Parkinson’s disease doesn’t kill but carries the armaments that can hasten a trip to the cemetery or crematorium. PD stalks for years like a Russian hit man, then uncorks the nerve agent.
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 8.5 million people worldwide suffer, a number that’s doubled in the last 25 years. Why, how, when, where, what? We still know far less than we need. Even AI can’t answer.
Inheritable? Are diets a factor? How about lifestyle?
PD can run in families as a result of faulty genes being passed to a child by their parents, say the experts at the NHS. But that’s rare. They think:
Environmental factors may increase a person’s risk…It’s been suggested that pesticides and herbicides, traffic or industrial pollution may contribute to the condition. But the evidence…is inconclusive.
It’s not contagious; you can shake a sufferer’s hands – if they stay still. Kissing and hugging are fine. Parkies need love like everyone.
To date, it seems victims should continue with normal nutritious meals. Daily walks are good, along with keeping a sharp mind by reading P&I and ignoring The Australian to avoid stress.
The deeply religious might imagine a vengeful deity is smiting them for past sins, but most realise diagnosis is a lottery. Here’s the uncomfortable bit: PD is idiopathic.
British chemist and doctor James Parkinson identified the disease in 1817; however, Indian and Chinese writings suggest it may have existed for more than a thousand years.
One in five Aussies will die from PD where ‘neurological conditions are the underlying cause’. The median age for hospitalisations is 76.
Most admissions are from infectious diseases, trauma, cardiovascular (heart and blood), cerebrovascular (blood flow to the brain) and gastrointestinal (gut) emergencies.
Losing balance is the lurking terror. Almost 70 per cent of falls are caused by postural instability, rigidity and slower reflexes. And these injuries are more frequent and severe than in age-matched peers.
Parkies shuffle with bent backs, alert for strong street furniture, like lamps and power poles, to grab for stability. There’s a resistance to wheelchairs because use marks the end of independence. Smart homeowners install vertical and horizontal rails on walls, particularly WCs. The edge of a toilet bowl can kill.
Another spotters’ clue is Parkies needing both hands to sip a cool drink, hence the now unfashionable ‘shaking palsy’. If your dependent uses a keyboard, you’ll notice clusters of errors and texts of garbage, much like many politicians’ media releases.
Health authorities say PD is caused by a loss of nerve cells that produce dopamine. This chemical/hormone acts as a messenger between the parts of the brain and nervous system that help control and coordinate body movements. If these nerve cells die or get damaged, the amount of dopamine in the brain is reduced.
The daily drug levodopa boosts dopamine, while add-ons help reduce side effects like nausea and vomiting. These aren’t cures.
PD is progressive and so far, incurable. Much lab work is funded by former US/Canadian child film star from the 90s, Michael J Fox. He was diagnosed with PD at 30, proving it’s not just for oldies. Now 65 and mainly retired, it shows the disease is not a killer.
Fox wanted a cure, and in 2000, he set up a foundation in his name. So far, it claims to have raised US$ 2.5 billion. Fox advocates stem-cell research. Cell replacement therapies are opposed by pro-life advocates and some religious groups, who claim:
…the embryo is morally equivalent to a person, a fully developed human being. So, extracting stem cells from a blastocyst is as morally abhorrent as harvesting organs from a baby to save other people’s lives.
The regulated research is legal in Australia.
Parkinson’s Australia was founded in 2000 as a national advocate based in Canberra. Services and support for individuals come from GPs and independent, state-based organisations funded by public donations, sponsors and government grants.
A survey found poor public knowledge of the disease: “people with PD are more likely to be a marginalised group within their communities”, with the disease often dismissed as part of ageing.
So next time you get annoyed at the way Parkies walk, forever alert for hazards, consider that you could be next when the spinning wheel stops.
Disclosure: Readers will have guessed that DG and PD are, as the cops say, ‘known to each other’.
Duncan Graham has been a journalist for more than 40 years in print, radio and TV. He is the author of People Next Door (UWA Press). He is now writing for the English language media in Indonesia from within Indonesia.
Duncan Graham has an MPhil degree, a Walkley Award, two Human Rights Commission awards and other prizes for his radio, TV and print journalism in Australia. He lives in East Java.