What kind of disease is Parkinson's?

Parkinson's disease is a disease that has become more common in recent years. It often occurs in middle-aged and elderly people and has a great impact on people's normal life and work. But what kind of disease is Parkinson's? Most people don't fully understand this issue. In fact, Parkinson's disease is a functional brain disease that mainly affects a person's motor function.

1. What is Parkinson’s disease?

Parkinson's disease is a functional brain disease that mainly affects a person's motor functions, such as uncontrolled shaking of the hands and feet, shaking when still, and reduced shaking when holding chopsticks or carrying water. Some patients have severe shaking and have problems completing these movements. About 60% to 70% of patients experience limb tremor as the initial symptom.

Of course, the occurrence of limb tremors does not necessarily mean Parkinson's disease. If there are no other symptoms, such as limb stiffness, poor mobility, inability to do fine work with fingers, not swinging arms when walking, inability to move legs wide when walking, or small steps and forward gait after moving legs wide, it is difficult to determine whether it is Parkinson's disease. You need to do some auxiliary examinations in the hospital to distinguish it from other diseases that can cause tremors, such as hyperthyroidism.

2. How does one get Parkinson’s disease?

The pathological cause of Parkinson's disease is now known. The production of dopamine neurotransmitters in the brain is "reduced" and the production of acetylcholine neurotransmitters is "normal". These two neurotransmitters are mutually restrained and their production is "normal" to maintain the normal movement of the body. When the disease occurs, this balance is broken, resulting in the limb symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

The production of dopamine neurotransmitters does not decrease instantly, but gradually. Only when it decreases to a certain amount will obvious limb symptoms appear. Therefore, it is often said that Parkinson's disease has an insidious onset and progresses slowly. However, the specific reason why the production of dopamine neurotransmitters is reduced has not been clearly determined.

Many experts believe that the onset of Parkinson's disease is related to aging, genetic factors, environmental toxins, etc. It is not the influence of a single factor, but the combined effect of multiple factors.