What is Parkinson’s Disease?
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative condition. This means it affects the brain and it gets worse over time. There are dozens of symptoms associated with it, and they’re usually divided into two types: motor, like slowness or rigidity, and non-motor, like pain or loss of the sense of smell.
It’s named after an English doctor, James Parkinson, who first reported it in 1817 - coincidentally, we were both born on April 11, which is World Parkinson’s Day.
There around 10 million people in the world who have PD. Around one in ten of them are diagnosed before they’re 50 (like me!), and that’s usually referred to as Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease (YOPD).
Currently, there’s no cure, so you can understand the urgency of finding one! In most countries, there’s medication available that makes it possible for us to live a functional life. However, there are places where people have no access to neurologists, and forget about medication (see Parkinson’s Africa for more on this).
More information
There’s SO much information on PD out there that it can be overwhelming. Other than the best known resources, like The Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Parkinson’s Foundation in the US, and Parkinson’s UK or Parkinson’s Europe, here are others: