Sunday, November 18, 2012

Parkinson's related?

It occurred to me that the rigid neck might be connected to Parkinson's. Could be; here's what I found online:

 Rigidity is stiffness and resistance to limb movement caused by increased muscle tone, an excessive and continuous contraction of muscles.[1] In parkinsonism the rigidity can be uniform (lead-pipe rigidity) or ratchety (cogwheel rigidity).[1][2][11][12] The combination of tremor and increased tone is considered to be at the origin of cogwheel rigidity.[13] Rigidity may be associated with joint pain; such pain being a frequent initial manifestation of the disease.[1] In early stages of Parkinson's disease, rigidity is often asymmetrical and it tends to affect the neck and shoulder muscles prior to the muscles of the face and extremities.[14] With the progression of the disease, rigidity typically affects the whole body and reduces the ability to move.

This is Wiki, of course, but tracks with other stuff I read. I'm just wondering if Dad's docs are all coordinated. Does Wiggins have all the info about Parkinson's from his neuro doctor, etc? Anyone know? 

3 comments:

  1. No. Of course I don't know the degree of coordination. Wiggins went for years without associating Dad's tremors with Parkinson's. (Or if he did, Dad never mentioned it, always a possibility.) Dad can be so frustrating. I talked to him several times at church today in one-on-one, non-social settings and he never mentioned the neck pain and that's the kind of thing I was trying to get out of him. I also wonder if doctors can tell the difference between tension clinching and Parkinsonian clinching.

    I'll see if I can go with him to the next Wiggins appointment and see what's up.

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  2. Not only that, but I don't even know the name of his Parkinson's doctor. We need to be aware of the Parkinson's timeline so we're prepared with proper care as the disease progresses. Which it will. (No, there is no let up.)

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  3. Well, his neurologist used to be Dr. Chen, but she moved, and I don't know the name of the new person. It is frustrating, but Dad has been in the position of caretaker for so long, his MO is just to bear things. That's exacerbated by his failing memory, also possibly Parkinson's related, but he is 87 or whatever. He mentions Parkinson's to me more often than he used to and has read some stuff about it himself, but you are totally right. We need to be more informed, because we're going to have to deal with it. xxoomm

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