How Long Does It Take For Parkinson’s Disease To Progress?

How Long Does It Take For Parkinson’s Disease To Progress?

It is quite common for any individual suffering from Parkinson’s disease to wonder about the unfolding of the condition. If you belong to the group that in search for the answers related to the progression of Parkinson’s disease, then you will try to learn about the symptoms that you can acquire with the condition, when they start, and the changes the disease brings in the body.

The questions are basic, but Parkinson’s disease is not. Like other illnesses, Parkinson’s disease does not have a specific path of progression. Due to this, it is difficult to state or pin down the exact time or the path of the progression.

Why it is Hard to Detect the Progression of Parkinson’s Disease?

As we stated above that Parkinson’s disease is not basic, it becomes difficult to detect it in its early stage due to 2 symptoms – it affects motor issues such as the rigid muscles and tremors, and the other is the development of non-motor symptoms such as dementia, pain, and loss of smell.

Although one cannot see that a person suffering from Parkinson’s disease will show all the symptoms, you cannot even tell or predict which symptoms will be present and their severity. For instance, one patient may show severe dementia with slight tremors. Another patient displays a critical condition of tremors but does not have any problem related to memory or thinking. In another case, the patient can show a severe state of all the symptoms. Therefore, it is difficult to predict the progression of the condition.

In addition to this, the medicines that help in treating Parkinson’s disease also make it difficult to predict the results because a few patients show positive results while others do not show any improvement.

What Can You Expect From Parkinson’s Disease?

Because Parkinson’s disease follows a broader pattern, it moves at different speeds among different people and brings out changes at a different rate. An individual affected by the disease shows the symptoms over a period, and they become worse with time. It is also possible for the patients to show new signs from time to time throughout the period.

The Parkinson’s disease does not have any effect on your lifespan. However, it does possess the ability to change on how you lead the life. What we are talking about is the quality of life. Parkinson’s disease changes it, and after a decade, many people will show some significant symptoms such as physical disability or dementia.

Motor Symptoms

You can break motor symptoms into mild, moderate, and advanced. However, any stage can display an increase or decrease in symptoms anytime. A tremor can sound like a mild symptom. But for a right-handed person, it affects the quality of life based on the severity and repeatability. Using medicines in the mild stage is possible to keep the symptoms at bay. Coming to the moderate stage, which is usually between 3 and 7 years, one will notice significant changes. For instance, one can find trouble in buttoning a shirt. Furthermore, one will also see that the effect of the medicine begins to reduce between doses. Although many people do not reach the advanced stage, it is here that the medication does not have any effect in curing the illness. It is also the place where severe disabilities crop in.

Non-Motor Symptoms

Any individual suffering from Parkinson’s disease will show at least any one of the following non-motor symptoms:

  • Constipation.
  • Depression.
  • Pain.
  • Loss of smell.
  • Sleep issues.
  • Low blood pressure (B.P).

When the symptoms become severe, then they lead to disability, and the patient requires admission into a nursing home.

Also Read:

Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:January 4, 2018

Recent Posts

Related Posts