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Treatments for Parkinson's Disease

Treatment for Parkinson's disease depends upon the severity of symptoms of Parkinson's disease and the age of the person. Treatments may differ with the symptoms, age and the response of the person to a certain medication. The primary goal of the treatment for Parkinson's disease is to increase the level of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that causes the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. There are many treatments for Parkinson's disease, which include medications, surgery and other treatments. Some people respond well to medications while others may require a surgery. Given below are some of the treatments for Parkinson's disease.

Medication Treatment for Parkinson's disease

Medication is the most common treatment for Parkinson's disease. Medications help to increase the dopamine level. Medication treatment is started when the symptoms start disrupting person's daily activities. Some of the medications generally recommended are:

Levodopa and Carbidopa: Levodopa is considered to the most effective drug in treating Parkinson's disease. When given to people with Parkinson's, nerve cells in the brain convert levodopa into dopamine. This increase in dopamine lessens many disabling symptoms. But levodopa alone is not enough as it crosses body's blood brain barrier only in small amounts. Therefore it must be combined with carbidopa so that more levodopa passes into the brain. But there are some side effects associated with these drugs. Involuntary movements are seen in some people. Long-term use may cause hallucinations and a drop in blood pressure.

Dopamine agonists: Dopamine agonists are used to treat people in the early stages of Parkinson's disease. They copy the effects of dopamine and cause neurons to react as if a sufficient amount of dopamine was present. Some of the dopamine agonists include bromocriptine, pergolide, apomorphine, pramipexole and ropinirole. Bromocriptine can cause inflammatory reactions in lungs or heart valves and pergolide increases the risk of heart valve disease. Therefore these two drugs are not prescribed frequently. The side effects of dopamine agonists are same as Levodopa and carbidopa. The only difference is that involuntary movements are not seen but hallucinations and sleepiness is observed.Dopamine agonists can be taken along with Levodopa and carbidopa.

Selegiline: Selegiline can be taken alone or in combination to levodopa and carbidopa. Combination of both is very effective. Selegiline helps in breaking down of both naturally occurring dopamine and the one formed from levodopa. This happens since selegiline reduces the activity of the enzyme called monoamine oxidase B that metabolizes dopamine in the brain. It can cause toxic reactions in some people.

Catechol-O-methyltransferase(COMT) inhibitors: These medications are responsible for blocking an enzyme that breaks down dopamine thus delaying the effect of levodopa and carbidopa. Tolcapone, a potent COMT inhibitor can cross the blood-brain barrier easily but can cause liver related problems. Therefore it is prescribed only for those who don't respond to other therapies. Another COMT inhibitor called Entacapone has similar properties as Tolcapone . The only difference is that it can't cross the blood-brain barrier and doesn't cause liver problems. Therefore it can be taken in combination with levodopa and carbidopa.

Anticholinergics: Before the introduction of levodopa and carbidopa, anticholinergics such as trihexyphenidyl and benztropine were used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. They help to control the main symptom of parkinson's disease found in early stages that is the tremor. Sometimes they may cause side effects like nausea, constipation and urine retention. They may even cause hallucinations, memory loss and confusion.

Amantadine: Amantadine is an antiviral medication, which gives short-term relief from Parkinson's disease in its early stages. When used in combination with levodopa-carbidopa therapy it also helps people in later stages of Parkinson's disease. They help by reducing involuntary movements problems induced by levodopa and carbidopa.

For the advanced stages of Parkinson's disease a surgery may be required. For surgical and alternative treatments of Parkinson's disease see our surgical and alternative treatments of Parkinson's disease article.




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