Parkinson’s Awareness Month

April is Parkinson’s Awareness month, so we thought we would share some useful facts about Parkinson’s.

What is Parkinson’s?

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition. This means that it causes problems in the brain and gets worse over time.

Around 145,000 people live with Parkinson’s in the UK. And it’s the fastest growing neurological condition in the world.

Three things we know about Parkinson’s:

1) Parkinson’s develops when cells in the brain stop working properly and are lost over time. These brain cells produce a chemical called dopamine.

2) Symptoms start to appear when the brain can’t make enough dopamine to control movement properly.

3) There are 3 main symptoms - tremor (shaking), slowness of movement and rigidity (muscle stiffness) - but there are many other symptoms too. What causes Parkinson’s?

People with Parkinson’s don’t have enough of the chemical dopamine because some of the nerve cells that make it have died.