More than 10 million individuals around the world are living with PD as we speak. Parkinson’s disease is a lot more than just slow movement, tremors, and limb stiffness. The condition comes with a wide range of symptoms that can significantly reduce your life’s overall quality.

Let’s look at how it affects an individual’s life beyond the obvious symptoms:

Loss of smell

This is one of the earliest symptoms of PD that becomes visible log before the condition is diagnosed. You’d be surprised to know that around 75% of individuals with PD have a diminished sense of smell compared to other people of the same age. This happens because of the likely buildup of alpha-synuclein that clusters in the brain’s area that regulates the olfactory sense. However, before you confuse a loss of smell with a COVID-19 symptom, we recommend reaching out to a Parkinson’s specialist to get a further diagnosis done.

Apathy

Although PD is a neurogenerative disease, it also takes a toll on an individual’s emotional wellbeing. Individuals with PD often tend to feel detached, emotionally unavailable, or generally unmotivated. This happens because PD also reduces the levels of dopamine that can be found in the reward pathways of your brain. Every time an individual anticipates a feeling of reward or danger, the brain cells release dopamine. This enables you to make a move and react to the situation. However, in PD, the production of dopamine is affected, and you need to put in an effort to ‘leg up.’ This symptom is prevalent among at least 70% of individuals with PD.

Sleep

Sleep disorders are common during Parkinson’s. Individuals with PD either have to deal with disturbed sleep patterns, sleeplessness, or excessive daytime sleeplessness. All of these symptoms can really take a toll on your work-related productivity and mood throughout the day. Sleep problems often arise because symptoms such as tremors, pain, restless leg syndrome, and muscle stiffness really make it difficult for you to relax and fall asleep. During PD, your brain also goes through multiple changes that may disrupt your sleeping cycle. These changes especially take place in the lower brain stem and the nerve cells in the midbrain.

If you’re having trouble keeping up with your everyday activities as a result of PD, we recommend seeking help from a Parkinson’s disease specialist in Los Angeles. Dr. Farzin Pedouin from Movement Help is a board-certified neurologist and would love to assist in your case. Get in touch.