Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that often impairs motor skills, speech, and other functions, and has no known cure (Wikipedia). It affects about 100,000 Canadians and 1.6 million people worldwide (Parkinson’s Society Canada). Diagnosis can be difficult especially in the early stages due to symptom overlap with other diseases. Early signs are often dismissed as signs of normal aging, in Michael J Fox’s case his twitchy finger was discovered early in his life at age 30 which is extremely young, average onset is around 60 years old (CTVglobemedia). Parkinson’s is highly individual it affects people in many different ways and progresses at different rates, its highly unpredictable …show more content…
Research Question
What causes Parkinson’s disease?
Working Thesis
What is Parkinson’s and how can you live with it?
I. What causes Parkinson’s? a. Genetics (VIARTIS) b. Gender (Marjama-Lyons, J., Shomon, M.J.) c. Age (Marjama-Lyons, J., Shomon, M.J.) d. Ethnicity (Marjama-Lyons, J., Shomon, M.J.) e. Geographic Region (Marjama-Lyons, J., Shomon, M.J.) f. Toxic Environmental Exposures (Healthcommunities.com, PubMed, VIARTIS, WebMD) g. Viral Infections (Marjama-Lyons, J., Shomon, M.J.) h. MPTP (street drug) (PubMed,VIARTIS) i. Estrogen Deficiency (Marjama-Lyons, J., Shomon, M.J.) j. Other Factors i. Caffeine ii. Nicotine/cigarettes II. What are the symptoms? (Norman, S., Troster, A., Fields, J.A., Brooks, R.) k. Emotional and mental symptoms iii. Depression iv. Anxiety v. Apathy or abulia (unable to act or make decisions independently) vi. Thought process reaction time