Patient/caregiver was educated on complications of Parkinson’s Disease as follows:
- The chemicals dopamine and serotonin play a significant role in promoting a healthy sleep pattern, regular sleep-wake cycle, and mood stabilization. Deficiency of and imbalance between chemicals, dopamine and serotonin, in Parkinson’s patients mainly result in disturbance in the sleep patterns, unstable mood, and consequently lead to restlessness, anxiety, and depression. Low dopamine also can contribute to low motivation levels, contributing towards depression. Individuals with coexisting history of mood disorders and Parkinson’s disease can often present with difficulty controlling and worsening of symptoms of mood disorder and psychosis.
- Blood pressure sensors are located inside the heart and in the blood vessels in the neck. These sensors recognize any sudden changes in blood pressure with an individual changing positions abruptly, such as, assuming sudden standing up position from lying down. This sudden change in blood pressure numbers, unless checked, can result in episodes of dizziness and confusion, especially in senior citizens, resulting in falls. To facilitate this check on the sudden changes in blood pressure numbers, particular areas in the brain get activated. These areas in the brain send signals to the heart, to increase the heart rate and force of heart contraction accordingly, to compensate for the sudden changes with blood pressure numbers. This compensation with increase in heart rate and force of heart contraction helps increase the blood volume pumped out of heart into circulation, thus helping to prevent development of dizziness and confusion. In Parkinson’s patients, the centers in the brain sensing the blood pressure changes and sending signals to the heart to compensate for the blood pressure changes could be affected. Compromised function of these centers in Parkinson’s patients result in poor regulation of blood pressure and heart rate numbers, leading to episodes of confusion and dizziness. This can increase risk for falls and accidents in Parkinson’s patients.
- The rigidity, difficulty initiating movements, and loss of automatic body movements in Parkinson’s patients can impair balance and coordination, thus increasing risk for fall & accidents.
