Symptoms Lead To Diagnosis of Parkinson’s Now What?

You suspicious symptoms and your curiosity or perhaps your anxiety lead you to the doctor’s office and the diagnosis soon became apparent, you have Parkinson’s disease, now what?

You may have noticed one or more of the following symptoms of Parkinson’s disease that include these primary symptoms bradykinesia which is a slowness of your voluntary movements (those you conscientiously do such as standing, walking, and sitting), tremors of the fingers, hands, feet, chin, or mouth or you may notice stiffness or rigidity of your muscles or poor balance. You can have one or more of these primary symptoms.

Secondary symptoms may also be recognized prior to receiving a diagnosis such as being constipated frequently, having difficulty in swallowing, choking or coughing while eating, drooling while sleeping, or having excessive salivation or sweating, loss of your bladder or bowel control, loss of your cognitive ability, or feelings of anxiety, depression or being isolated. You may also have noticed dry skin on the face or scalp that may also be scaly. You may have a slow response when someone asks you a question or your handwriting has become sloppy or cramped looking. Your voice may have become noticeably soft or you have a whispery quality to your voice when you speak.

You make an appointment with your primary or family doctor and describe your symptoms at the time of your initial appointment. Your doctor will take a thorough medical history, symptoms history, and perform a physical examination checking your reflexes and observing how your muscles move and what your muscle strength is like throughout your entire body. Your balance and coordination will be checked. Your doctor may order some tests of your nerve function including checking to see if there is a narrowing of your spinal canal, or evidence of tremors. Blood and urine tests may be run, and CT or MRI scans to rule out other disorders. When all the test results are back the doctor will take them into consideration along with your symptoms, medical history and physical examination in order to arrive at a diagnosis. If your diagnosis is Parkinson’s disease your doctor will explain what the disease is and the likely course the disease will take in the future.

After the diagnosis comes the treatment plan. It is important that the treatment plan not only addresses your symptoms and has the goal of minimizing them to give your relief but that the goal also includes slowing the progression of the disease.

Treatment will more than likely be a combination of medications, alternative methods and after all else is exhausted, surgery.

Your doctor will discuss your plan with you and give you information about coping with Parkinson’s which will also include connecting you with local and national organizations that are set up to lend support to those who have Parkinson’s and their families.

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