Parkinson's and related conditions
Parkinson's is common in later life. It causes slowness of movement, tremor and stiffness, and it often makes walking unsteady, which brings a greater risk of falls and broken bones.
The movement symptoms are only part of Parkinson's and often other symptoms cause a lot more bother. Parkinson's and related conditions can affect sleep, memory and thinking, mood, sexual function, blood pressure, and bladder and bowel function. These are frequently the symptoms that people find hardest to live with, and they are what gets least attention. Identifying them and treating them properly matters as much as treating the movement changes.
Related conditions
Not everyone with slowness, stiffness or tremor has Parkinson's disease. Several other conditions cause similar symptoms. Telling them apart matters, because the treatment, the outlook and the support needed differ from one person to the next.
Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) often causes unsteadiness and falls early on, along with difficulty moving the eyes and changes in speech and swallowing.
Multiple system atrophy (MSA) affects the automatic functions of the body as well as movement, including blood pressure, bladder and bowel.
Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) typically affects one side of the body first, with stiffness, clumsiness and difficulty carrying out familiar movements.
Lewy body dementia (LBD) combines movement symptoms with changes in memory, attention and alertness, and sometimes with visual hallucinations and disturbed sleep.
Vascular and drug-induced parkinsonism. Parkinsonism can also follow small strokes affecting the brain, or arise as a side effect of certain medications. Both are common in later life and both are frequently missed. Drug-induced parkinsonism can improve once the medication responsible is identified.
Professor Henderson assesses and manages all of these conditions.
How Professor Henderson can help
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Reviewing the diagnosis, where there is uncertainty about whether this is Parkinson's or a related condition.
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Adjusting medication, including the timing of doses.
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Helping improve the non-movement symptoms, including sleep, mood, memory, blood pressure and bladder problems.
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Assessing the risk of falls and of fracture, and putting bone protection plan in place where it is needed.
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Explaining the options, including the reasoning for and against each one, so that you can decide together on the best options.