​Parkinson's Disease Or Parkinson's Syndrome: Are These Two The Same?

Feb 22, 2022



Contact: Audrey Hu audrey.hu@wecistanche.com


Recently, many outpatients are asking: "Doctor, am I Parkinson's disease? Or Parkinson's syndrome? Are these two diseases the same?". Many intern students are also asking: "Teacher, what is Parkinson's syndrome? How do we distinguish Parkinson's disease from this syndrome? Is the treatment the same?" Now, let's talk about this silly Clear Parkinson's disease and Parkinson's syndrome.

Anti-Parkinson's: cistanche supplement

Anti-Parkinson's: cistanche supplement

Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease, with an estimated 1 million patients with Parkinson's disease in the United States and 5 million worldwide.

The main features of PD are bradykinesia, resting tremor, and myotonia. Parkinson's syndrome is actually a collective term for a group of symptoms with bradykinesia, rigidity and/or tremor as the main manifestations, rather than a single disease.

Anti-Parkinson's herb: cistanche

Anti-Parkinson's herb: cistanche

Parkinson's syndrome

Specifically, Parkinson's syndrome includes the following aspects:

1. Secondary Parkinson's Syndrome: As the name suggests, this type of disease is secondary, that is, caused by a variety of reasons. The more common factors are cerebrovascular disease, drugs, poisons, trauma and so on. After cerebral infarction or cerebral hemorrhage, some patients will have symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease, such as poor walking and rigid limbs, and most of them have lower extremity dysfunction. Parkinson's syndrome. Because the underlying cause is vascular disease, the treatment effect of drugs such as Medopa is not particularly good.

Some patients also have clinical manifestations similar to Parkinson's disease due to the long-term use of certain drugs, such as perphenazine, flupentixol, flunarizine, trimetazidine, etc., which we call the drug source. Sexual Parkinsonism (DIP). The mechanism of this is relatively complex, and Xiao Qin will give a more detailed and systematic explanation in future topics. Since it is caused by the drug, can the symptoms be reversed after stopping the drug? Studies have shown that 90% of DIP patients have symptoms that can gradually disappear after stopping related drugs, but 10% of patients have symptoms that persist or even worsen after stopping the drug. To sum up, it is very important to fully understand DIP and achieve early detection and diagnosis to prevent patients from progressing to irreversible Parkinson's syndrome. Misdiagnosed and mistreated. Also, many drugs may exacerbate the symptoms of primary PD, and caution should be exercised when prescribing drugs to Parkinson's patients to prevent drug-induced symptoms from worsening.

2. Inherited degenerative Parkinson's syndrome: This kind of disease sounds more "esoteric", and neurologists are relatively familiar with it, but we encounter less in our daily life, so I will not elaborate here. Such as Huntington's disease, hepatolenticular degeneration, neuroacanthocytosis and so on. Well, the name sounds unfamiliar. In short, it is a group of genetic degenerative diseases of the nervous system, but there are also Parkinson's-like manifestations.

3. Parkinson's superimposed syndrome: The most difficult clinical distinction from Parkinson's disease may be this type of superimposed syndrome. These include multiple system atrophy (MSA), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), and more. Most of the patients with this type of disease will have symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease, the most common being bradykinesia and increased muscle tone, but they all have their own characteristics.

For example, in patients with multiple system atrophy, the more common features are orthostatic hypotension, urinary retention, etc., and some specific manifestations can also be seen in head MRI. However, patients with progressive supranuclear palsy mostly have characteristic manifestations such as head tilt, eye movement disorder, and repeated falls.

Benefit of cistanche: Anti-Parkinson's

Benefit of cistanche: Anti-Parkinson's

As for patients with corticobasal ganglia degeneration, they may show apraxia in which they cannot complete complex movements according to instructions. Some patients feel that their hands are not theirs (so weird, right), which our specialists call alien hands. The identification of Parkinson's superimposition syndrome depends more on a detailed physical examination by a specialist, as well as advanced auxiliary examinations such as ordinary nuclear magnetic resonance, functional magnetic resonance, and PET. Generally speaking, these diseases progress relatively quickly, and the overall effect of Medopa treatment is poor or ineffective.

Cistanche extract

Cistanche extract

Having said so much, everyone will find that there is actually a big difference between Parkinson's disease and Parkinson's syndrome to a certain extent. Parkinson's syndrome is just one type of syndrome. Patients will have Parkinson's-like manifestations such as bradykinesia and muscle rigidity, but it covers many diseases and is very complex. Therefore, it is of course difficult to distinguish between primary Parkinson's disease and Parkinson's syndrome simply by the patient himself. When suspicious clinical symptoms appear, we must seek early and timely treatment, and fully trust specialist doctors and advanced modern medical examination methods. Parkinson's patients can also eat more anti-Parkinson's herbs such as Cistanche.



You Might Also Like