Gloomy Sunday
There’s always something a little gloomy about Sundays, don’t you think? A few strange things happened this week. First of all, I made a very important decision. I donated my brain. Here in The Netherlands, you are free in the choice whether or not to donate organs after you pass. Another option, which can be combined with the donation of organs, is the donation of your brain to the “Dutch Brain Bank”, de Hersenbank. * This organization was founded in 1985 by a neurobiologist I greatly admire – Dick Swaab**. He’s not afraid to research unconventional things, such as homosexuality, religion and moral behavior and even love, and its foundations in the brain. Over 30 years time, he’s received multiple death threats from...
Parkinson’s Disease: Treatment and the Future
This is the third and last blog in the Parkinson’s Disease series. You can find the two previous posts here: the symptoms (#1) and neuroscience (#2). Treatment of PD Currently, there is no real cure for Parkinson’s. There are medications that fight the symptoms, but not the disease itself. Simply put, there is no way to restore the cells that died within the substantia nigra (see the neuroscience post). Most patients with PD are prescribed Levadopa (L-DOPA). Other drugs are used in PD treatment as well, but L-DOPA is the most widely used one. This medication is converted into dopamine in dopaminergic neurons, which causes relief from many of the motor symptoms (it barely helps with the psychiatric symptoms though). However, only 5-10% of the L-DOPA...
Parkinson’s Disease: Neuroscience
This is the second post in the series of blogs I will write about Parkinson’s, to honor my grandmother, who passed away last week. PD is a disease experts call “idiopathic”, which means “arising spontaneously” or “from an obscure or unknown cause”. However, there is some proof that in a (very) small amount of the patients there is a genetic component. This means that PD might be hereditary in some cases (which is a frightening thought). Parkinson’s is neurological illness and to best explain what causes PD, I will have to throw somewhat difficult terms at you, but I hope it’s clear enough to follow. The substantia nigra and the pars compacta Within the substantia nigra, a part of the basal ganglia, a structure...
Parkinson’s Disease: the symptoms
This is the first post in the series of blogs I will write about Parkinson’s, to honor my grandmother, who passed away last week. This is an introduction to the disease that is Parkinson’s. Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease, much like Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s, where Alzheimer is much more prevalent than PD, and Huntington’s is more rare. The prognosis for PD is bad, as it’s progressive. Right now there are no cures for PD, except for some medication that mainly subdue symptoms, but don’t actually fight the disease itself. People with PD show symptoms in the motor functions, but also show psychiatric symptoms. Motor Symptoms The best known symptom of Parkinson’s is the tremor that...
An ode to my Grandmother
As you may or may not have noticed I’ve been quite inactive lately, both in the blogosphere and on Twitter. My grandmother passed last Thursday, so I’ve been with my family a lot. My grandmother suffered from Parkinson’s Disease for about 15 years. Especially the last few years were hard for her, since she had become paralyzed as well. It was hard for us, her family, as well, to have to see someone we love have to go something like that. In a way, it’s a good thing that she has come to pass, because in a way it has set her free, but it is still incredibly hard on us all to have to miss her. I know that not many people know what Parkinson’s is, exactly, and I would like to make a series of blog posts about this disease in honor of my...
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