Surprising Facts About Parkinsons Disease

Parkinson’s disease is a well-recognized movement disorder in the field of medical science.
But, this is one ailment that hasn’t yet found a cause, nor a cure. It is a very frustrating
condition for the patient where he has to encounter involuntary shaking of the limbs,
stiffness, and slowness of movement. Till date, there hasn’t been a permanent cure for the
condition, since there is no proper cause yet found for the condition. Temporary
medications, injections, and surgeries have been founded to treat these patients, but there
is still a long way to go for medical science to find an appropriate treatment for the ailment.
If you or your loved one is suffering from this frustrating condition, you can get in touch
with Dr. Shivam Mittal, the Parkinson’s disease specialist in Bangalore, who is very
well recognized and trusted to cure all kinds of movement disorders in children and adults.
While the research for the disorder continues, there are certain amazingly unbelievable
facts about Parkinson’s disease that have been discovered. Till now, we all have known the
very basic symptoms associated with Parkinson’s that include tremors, stiffness, slowness,
impaired balance, depression, balance loss, and falls. But, how many of us know that
Parkinson’s is also associated with the patient having a typical smell, the disease being
triggered by MPTP, the disease being able to attack toddlers, or farmers being at greater
risk of encountering the condition? Strange, but true! There are evidences that have proved

all of the above being right. Here are the stories behind these four amazing facts about
Parkinson’s disease, which have paved the way to better researching for a cure for the
condition.
Parkinson’s Disease patients have a typical smell
Joy Milne was married to Les, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease more than a
decade after Joy had noticed a distinct change in his smell. Obviously, she couldn’t link to
the relation between his ailment and smell at that time, but years later, when she
encountered a group of people suffering from the ailment, she noticed the same musky
smell coming from them. This is when she deduced that Parkinson’s disease did have a
smell. To make this assumption a definite call, she was made to smell 12 Tshirts – 6 of
which were of Parkinson’s disease patients, and 6 of which were of normal people. She
identified 7 being of Parkinson’s patients and 5 being of those without the ailment. Her
sense of smell was not proven 100% accurate then, but 8 months later, when the 7 th out of
the group of 12 was diagnosed of having Parkinson’s, she made headlines for being the lady
who could identify Parkinson’s by no diagnoses other than the smell of her nose! This
makes the point clear that Parkinson’s does have a distinctive smell, and one that is
observed months or even years before the disorder strikes. While science hasn’t yet been
able to come up with such a diagnosis, but if this distinctive smell can be identified at the
earliest, millions of patients can be treated and cured even before the ailment occurs!
Parkinson’s Disease is triggered by MPTP
This story goes back to the year 1982, when a certain George Carillo was seen to develop
the symptoms of Parkinson’s overnight. It became apparent after much investigation that
Carillo had taken a street drug designed as a synthetic heroin, contaminated with a
chemical called MPTP, which was the cause for triggering the symptoms of Parkinson’s.
Carillo, and many others who had taken the same drug, were treated with levodopa, the
same treatment given to Parkinson’s disease patients. After this case, it was researched and
found that MPTP gets converted into a toxic molecule called MPP+ in the brain, which
caused Parkinson’s. the transformation was caused by an enzyme called ACE-B, which
deduced that ACE-inhibitor-drugs could prevent the symptoms.

Parkinson’s Disease can attack toddlers
Parkinson’s is generally observed in people above the age of 50-55, with the risk
exponentially increasing with risk. But, there are also conditions of early-onset Parkinson’s
where it can attack between the age of 21-45, which accounts for 5-10% of all Parkinson’s
cases. In fact, this can even go below the age of 21, where it is classified as juvenile
Parkinson’s. To support this fact, a 2 year old toddler in Canada was diagnosed with
Parkinson’s in 2016, which has been the youngest example ever seen!
Farmers are at a greater risk of Parkinson’s Disease
Pesticides have long been linked to Parkinson’s with lots of evidence substantiating the
condition. There are in particular three pesticides that can increase the risk of developing
Parkinson’s, namely ziram, maneb, and paraquat. And, when pesticides are in connection
with Parkinson’s, it is commonsensical that farmers are definitely at high risk.
For more information, visit: http://www.parkinsonsdiseasespecialist.com/