The wide range of symptoms for Parkinson's Disease are generally divided into 2 categories - "Motor" or primary symptoms, and "Non-Motor" or secondary symptoms. The motor symptoms are what's visible to everyone and the obvious signs of PD: resting tremor in the arms, legs or chin, rigidity or stiffness, slowness in movement, balance problems, walking problems which include decreased arm swing and shuffling steps. The secondary symptoms are what you can't see: Anxiety and depression, memory problems, apathy, cognitive difficulties, fatigue, insomnia, constipation, lightheadedness, urinary frequency, numbness or tingling, sexual dysfunction...just to name a few. This blog will focus more on the "Non-Motor" since I've had them all !
My bladder issues with PD are a real drag ! Some people do not know that your brain "controls" your bladder. Cells in the portion of the brain associated with urine control produce a chemical called Dopamine . Its release helps to keep the bladder in the off condition (bladder is relaxed while filling with urine), and prevents the bladder from contracting - when the bladder becomes full, the brain is alerted and then signals the bladder to contract (turn on ) to release urine. In PD, these cells are lost or reduced in number resulting in bladder on and off problems. My biggest issues so far have been overactive bladder and not being able to urinate at all. Overactive bladder for me means sudden urgency but not sure how full my bladder is until I get to the john (feels very full but may not be.) Not being able to urinate at all is serious - I have plenty of disposable intermittent catheters and lube whenever that suddenly happens...Loads of fun ...
Comments
Post a Comment