Managing debilitating diseases

A Villages neurologist touts progress in treatment and envisions a promising future.

Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), and lupus are conditions that affect a patient’s quality of life. However, a Villages neurologist says these diseases can be properly managed with treatment, medication, counseling, healthy diet, positive attitude, and support from the patient’s family and physician.

“The neurology field has become very dynamic with much rapid advances emerging,” says Dr. Tarek Bakdash, board-certified in neurology, neurophysiology, and psychiatry. He practices exclusively in The Villages, where he specializes in diagnosing and treating injuries and diseases that affect the human nervous system (brain, spinal cord, and nerves).

Dr. Bakdash says he’s pleased by the increase in medications in the past two decades to help patients best live with Parkinson’s, MS, and other diseases, and he believes the therapies and treatments are only going to get better.

“Twenty years ago, we didn’t have as much medication and the life expectancy was not that long,” he says, proudly adding that now some of his patients have been surviving with chronic diseases for years. His oldest patient is 97.

“The future is promising,” Dr. Bakdash adds. “We are getting closer to finding the underlying cause of many of the conditions. I envision that in the next 20 years, by God’s will, we should see a cure for many of the conditions, and that is my hope.” In the meantime, he believes it’s vital for patients to work with their physician and other health-care professionals to become informed about their disease and learn ways to best manage symptoms.

PARKINSON’S DISEASE

“We do see a lot more patients with Parkinson’s disease, and we are dealing with the elderly population,” says Dr. Bakdash, who notes patients often have issues with walking, speech, coordination, and swallowing.

Parkinson’s is a progressive disorder that predominately affects the breakdown of the dopamine-producing neurons in the brain, and symptoms often develop slowly over a period of years, according to parkinson.org. Symptoms range from tremors in one hand (the most well-known sign), to rigidity, clumsy leg, decreased blinking, speech abnormalities, stooped posture, and loss of balance. In severe stages of Parkinson’s, patients may be unable to walk or stand without assistance.

Symptoms can worsen over time, yet health-care officials say the earlier a patient is diagnosed, the more effective treatment can be at alleviating symptoms.

Multiple Sclerosis

As a chronic illness of the central nervous system, multiple sclerosis is an “unpredictable, often disabling disease that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body,” according to nationalmssociety.org.

The damaged areas develop scar tissue, which gives the disease its name—multiple areas of scarring or multiple sclerosis—and scientists believe MS is triggered by the combination of genetic susceptibility, abnormalities in the immune system, and environmental factors. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, and the disease is reportedly more common in women than in men.

LUPUS

A chronic autoimmune disease, lupus can cause inflammation, pain, and damage anywhere on a person’s body: skin, joints, and/or organs, according to lupus.org. Lupus is the result of something going wrong with the immune system’s ability to fight off viruses, bacteria, and germs.

“We deal with the neurological aspect of the disease,” says Dr. Bakdash, who notes lupus can affect a patient’s brain “and they might have issues with cognitive impairment, and this is when the patient comes to us.”

Most patients who develop lupus are in the 15-44 age range. They’re often women of child-bearing age, and women of color are reportedly two to three times more likely to develop lupus than Caucasians.

Als

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, for the famous baseball player who had the progressive neurodegenerative disease. It affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord, according to the ALS Association’s website, alsa.org, and causes the cells to gradually break down and die.

When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost, and patients may lose the ability to speak, eat, move, and breathe. ALS often strikes patients between ages 40 and 70, and military veterans are reportedly twice as likely to be diagnosed.

Dr. Bakdash says he strives to make sure ALS is the right diagnosis before disclosing it, and to make sure nothing else can be cured.

“If I am certain it is ALS, I want the patient to get a second opinion,” he says. “A second opinion is going to give closure to the family with what we are dealing with and what we have to live with. There are certain conditions that the disclosure of that diagnosis is going to be detrimental, like ALS.”

ALS experts believe patients can experience a better quality of life by participating in support groups. Dr. Bakdash says learning to live with a chronic disease is the best way of managing it.

“We are here to help them find out what is the cause of the problem and how can we deal with it,” he says. “Living with the disease is number one and an important aspect of management. It requires counseling, education, support from the family, and the physician. Living with the disease also requires having treatment for the disease. The patient needs to know what he or she has and that the condition can be livable.”

He adds that it’s vital for patients with chronic diseases to integrate healthy behaviors into their lifestyle, such as eating a well-balanced diet and maintaining a positive attitude.

“A positive attitude enforces positive thinking,” Dr. Bakdash says. “Generally speaking, healthy eating habits is good for their well-being overall, and that is why we tell patients to have healthy eating habits of high antioxidants and vegetables. These are very important for the brain’s well-being, and the idea is to keep the brain’s functions healthy and the activities of the brain running smoothly.”