Essay On Parkinson's Disease

There are several diseases and disorders of the nervous system. The nervous system is an important system because the brain is the main component. Once, the brain has been impaired; the human body does not function properly and can become deadly. Also, diseases of the nervous system often last for the rest of someone’s life. Three common nervous systems disorders include: Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and strokes. Parkinson’s disease is one of the few neurological disorders that also has physical symptoms that are noticeable. This disorder impairs a person’s ability to move normally. It can cause a person to have tremors, or excessive shaking, stiffness, or “slowing of movement” (Mayo Clinic). One of the first symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is not being able
to sway your arms as you walk and speech problems, but because it is a progressive disease the symptoms become more severe. The more severe symptoms of this disease may include: tremors, impaired posture and balance, difficulties with writing, inability of blinking, smiling, and other automatic movements. There is no official cure of, but there are medications and surgeries available to help. According to the Mayo Clinic website, there is a Mayo Clinic in the state of Minnesota that has been rated as the number one Neurology and Neurosurgery hospital. There are a few risk factors pertaining to Parkinson’s such as: age, heredity, sex, and exposure to toxins. Males are more likely than females to obtain this disease, it can be within someone’s genes, and overexposure to herbicides and pesticides can also increase your risk of developing this disease. Epilepsy is another neurological disorder that can affect any person at any age. Epilepsy is a reoccurrence of two or more seizures, and seizures can vary from mild to severe. The most common seizure people think of involves a person’s entire body convulsing rapidly, but a seizure could also be someone staring off and not responding for a few seconds. A statistic stated by the Mayo Clinic is, “1 in 26 people in the United States will develop a seizure disorder.” Signs of a person undergoing a seizure may include: “temporary confusion, a staring spell, uncontrollable jerking movements of the arms and legs, loss of consciousness or awareness, and psychic symptoms” (Mayo Clinic). There are many different types of seizures such as: focal seizures, absence seizures, tonic-clonic seizures, and more. The cause of epilepsy could be anything from heredity to past developmental disorders and even prenatal injury. Risk factors for epilepsy include: having seizures in the past, head injuries, having a stroke in the past, and brain infections. The main treatment for epilepsy are medications and surgeries to help reduce the number of seizures. Luckily, there is a possibility that epilepsy can be outgrown as a person ages. Strokes are the third leading cause of death in the United States.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Strokes occur when the blood supply to part of your brain is interrupted or severely reduced, depriving brain tissue of oxygen and nutrients.” A stroke is an emergency, and needs to be treated as soon as possible. If it is not treated in time; it will cause death. Treatments are typically emergency brain surgeries such as stents, clot removals, medications delivered straight to the brain, etc. The most common symptoms of a stroke are: loss of feeling in one side of the body, trouble speaking, vision problems in one or both eyes, and difficulties with walking. There are four main types of strokes: ischemic, thrombotic, embolic, and hemorrhagic. The risk factors for a stroke include lifestyle, medical, and other factors. Being overweight, having high blood pressure, being a smoker, using illicit drugs, binge drinking, high cholesterol, and having cardiovascular disease(s) are just a few examples of conditions that can increase your risk of having a stroke. The people with the highest risk of having a stroke are: males, African-Americans, having a family history of strokes, and if you are 55 years of age or
older.