brain, spinal cord, and nerve disorders
Parkinsonism
Symptoms of Parkinsonism
Parkinsonism causes symptoms that are similar to those of Symptoms . They include A tremor that occurs in one hand while the muscles are relaxed (a resting tremor) Stiff muscles Slow movements Difficulty maintaining balance and walking The disorders that cause parkinsonism may also cause other symptoms or variations of parkinsonian symptoms. Some symptoms may indicate the cause is not Parkinson disease. They include Prominent memory loss that occurs during the first year of the disorder (indicating dementia) Symptoms of parkinsonism on only one side of the body (often due to certain brain tumors or corticobasal ganglionic degeneration) Low blood pressure, difficulty swallowing, constipation, and urinary problems (sometimes due to multiple system atrophy) Falls and confinement to a wheelchair within the first months or years of a disorder Abnormalities in eye movements Hallucinations and visual-spatial problems (such as difficulty finding rooms at home or parking a car) that develop early in the disorder Symptoms that do not lessen in response to treatment withlevodopa Inability to express or understand spoken or written language (aphasia), inability to do simple skilled tasks (apraxia), and inability to associate objects with their usual role or function (agnosia) due to corticobasal ganglionic degeneration Incorticobasal ganglionic degeneration,the cerebral cortex (the part of the brain that contains most of the nerve cells) and the basal ganglia deteriorate progressively. Symptoms usually begin after age 60. People with corticobasal ganglionic degeneration have stiff muscles that affect one side of the body more than the other. As the disorder progresses, moving their limbs becomes increasingly difficult. Coordination and balance are poor, muscle twitch, and swallowing becomes difficult. Thinking is impaired, and people have difficulty finding, saying, and understanding words. Many people lose control of one hand (on the more affected side)—called alien hand syndrome. The hand may move on its own. For example, it may spontaneously open or make a fist. 