Parkinson's disease affects more and more elderly people around the world every week. Find out more about the symptoms of this neurodegenerative disease.

A quick reminder of what Parkinson's disease is.

Parkinson's disease results from the death of an essential neurotransmitter called dopamine. This molecule is essential for carrying out certain movements and for managing emotions and pleasure. Its absence causes major damage to the body.

This degradation of dopaminergic cells takes place over a long period and the symptoms are not immediately apparent. So you need to pay attention and know what to look for.

Parkinson's symptoms

In the early stages of the disease, symptoms go unnoticed. This is why early diagnosis is so difficult. By the time it is detected, the disease is generally well established.

To make a diagnosis, the doctor must note the presence of at least two of the three major symptoms of the disease. These are: akinesia, muscle stiffness and resting tremor.

Akinesia

People with this type of degeneration very frequently suffer from akinesia. Also known as slowness, this is a difficulty in performing complex or precise movements requiring a certain degree of coordination of the limbs. Walking and writing, for example, are affected. Writing becomes smaller and even illegible (micrographia), while steps become shorter and shorter.

The experience of this movement disorder can be compared to a state of fatigue or numbness in the limbs.

Muscular stiffness

Muscle stiffness is another early sign of the disease. This excessive tension of the muscles generally causes pain in the spinal column, but in some sufferers more generalised tension may occur.

Tremor at rest

Although well known to the general public, this symptom affects only 64% of sufferers. It is characterised by a slow, regular tremor that stops when the person starts to move again. These tremors generally affect a single limb. A finger or hand may tremble for no apparent reason.

Other Parkinsonian symptoms

Although the disease primarily affects the muscular system, it can also cause non-motor symptoms. As each patient is different, we will only mention certain predominant symptoms here.

Regular depression can be a sign of Parkinson's disease. This depression is caused by a lack of dopamine, a mood-regulating molecule. It is therefore not uncommon for this symptom to appear before the characteristic motor symptoms.

A certain amount of anxiety can also be observed. Often accentuated by external circumstances, it can lead to an anxiety attack.

In 70-90% of patients, a loss of sense of smell may occur. Caused by a lack of dopamine, this hyposmia will make it difficult to recognise smells.

An involuntary flow of saliva may also occur in some patients. This is not the result of excessive salivation but of a dysfunction in swallowing.