Philip Tindall says he 'tried to ignore' his Parkinson's
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Early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are usually mild and typically occur slowly and do not interfere with daily activities. You may experience signs in your feet and toes. Men aged 50 to 89 are 1.4 times more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s than women, according to Parkinson’s UK charity.
Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and the rate of decline vary widely from person to person.
Common symptoms include “muscle twisting, spasms or cramps,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.
It adds: “You may experience a painful cramp in your foot or curled and clenched toes.”
The most common symptoms also include a tremor. Shaking tends to begin in your hands and arms, though it can also occur in your jaw or foot.
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The health site adds that people may also experience slowness of movement, rigid muscles and stiff limbs.
Rigidity is the inability of your muscles to relax normally.You may experience aches or pains in the affected muscles and your range of motion may be limited.
Some people will also find that they are unsteady when they walk.
The health site says: “You may take short shuffling steps, have difficulty starting to walk and difficulty stopping and not swing your arms naturally as you walk. You may feel like your feet are stuck to the floor when trying to take a step.”
Other symptoms include decreased facial expressions, changes in speech which become slurred or be soft in tone, and handwriting changes.
Other signs include depression and anxiety, as well as memory issues.
Some people also find that they have urinary problems and constipation.
Other signs include skin problems, loss of smell and sleeping disturbances.
The condition develops when nerve cells that are responsible for producing a chemical known as dopamine die.
Dopamine allows messages to be sent to the parts of the brain that coordinate movement. With the loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells, these parts of the brain are unable to work normally, causing symptoms of Parkinson’s to appear.
There are more than 40 symptoms but Parkinson’s affects everyone differently. Not everyone will experience all the symptoms.
Parkinson’s doesn’t directly cause people to die, but symptoms do get worse over time.
Though there is no current cure, there are a range of treatments to control the symptoms and maintain quality of life. Medication is the main treatment for Parkinson’s as well as physical therapies.
Parkinson’s UK says that the three main types of therapy are: physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, and occupational therapy.
The charity says: “These can help you manage your Parkinson’s day to day and take control of your condition.”
Emerging evidence suggests that increasing exercise to 2.5 hours per week can be as important as medication in managing Parkinson’s symptoms, according to Parkinson’s UK.
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