For this week’s discussion, I chose the lay article “Allergies
Linked to Parkinson’s Disease”. What I’ve written here doesn’t necessarily
pertain to the article but I wanted to provide a little background information
on the disease in case some are not familiar with it.
Parkinson’s disease is a chronic and progressive disorder that
causes damage to the nervous system. It is a degenerative disease that affects the
controls of balance and movement. In some cases, it may also affect emotion and
cognitive thinking. This disease commonly occurs in people over the age of 50,
but it can also affect children under the age of 20, which is referred to as
juvenile-onset Parkinson disease. It is believed that the number of cases will
increase over the years because people are living longer. Symptoms include
tremors, difficulty walking and swallowing, dementia, hallucination, and
depression. This disease is caused by damage to nerve cells in the substantia
nigra region of the brain. The nerve cells in this region cause the release of
neurotransmitters that are responsible for motor and non-motor actions. Dopamine
is a crucial neurotransmitter that is released by the nerve cells in the substantia
nigra which is needed to control movement. In Parkinson’s disease, these nerve
cells are damaged or degraded and unable to produce and release dopamine. The
decrease in dopamine production causes the person to be unable to control
movement. A decrease in dopamine levels may also contribute to depression, but there
are not enough studies to draw a clear correlation. According to the National
Institutes of Health, 63% of funding goes toward research for Parkinson’s
disease; however, little is known about the cause of the disease and no cure
has been found. Methods of treatment include surgery for extreme cases and
medication to increase levels of dopamine. Most research done on Parkinson’s
disease focus on gene mutations, but the lay article suggests that the immune
response may play role in the disease as well. It is clear that more research is needed in
order to further understand the cause and treatments of this disease.
Resources:
National Institutes of Health
Parkinson’s Disease Foundation
http://www.pdf.org/en/about_pd
I’m glad that the article mentions that you shouldn’t worry if you have allergies because it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get Parkinson’s. What many lay articles seem to have in common aside from sparking interest amongst readers is that they have the ability to instill a sense of anxiety. By associating a rather common issue such as allergies to a much more detrimental disease such as Parkinson’s, people could potentially “freak out,” which could possibly lead to dangerous remedies to eliminate allergies, a totally normal bodily response. This reminds me of the lay article regarding chocolate and flavonoids, which has anti-inflammatory components and can be beneficial for your health. This can be quite misleading and result in an overconsumption of chocolate, which of course has its own issues. The Parkinson’s article also mentions that this study doesn’t prove that allergies cause Parkinson’s, but rather that it simply notes the association between the two.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this article does bring up a point in that inflammation in the brain could cause Parkinson’s, which is an issue that CAN potentially be addressed. As we all know, medications have a tough time getting to the brain due to the BBB, which is why once many brain diseases are diagnosed, it’s often too late (such as cancer in the brain). This association between allergies and inflammation with Parkinson’s could lead to a potential cure, at least for Parkinson’s derived from inflammation within the brain.
I agree with Richard. These type of articles do tend to freak you out. Its saying people who have allergies at higher risk for developing Parkinson's. People who read this and have allergies are probably going to worry now that they will develop this debilitating disease, I know I started to think about it. But then you continue to read on and it says that it hasn't been proven that allergies actually cause Parkinson's disease. So more research is actually needed to see if there is an actual link. So I guess we shouldn't really worry if we do have allergies since the article also says not to. Like what has already been mentioned these articles don't have much evidence and just make an association. That is why I don't like these type of articles, it makes people worry for no reason.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Richard and Yvette, people might freak out about this lay out article but in other hand it will make people to care more about their allergies. I know some people that never see a doctor or get treatment to their allergies. Especially during spring, we see people get more allergies symptoms but even if they get cold or other infection disease, which have same symptoms as allergies, they will assume is allergy and won’t get any medical help. This article could be useful for people who don’t take allergy or common cold seriously. When you link a treatable not so horrible disease to a disease that would freak people out I think the reason is to tell people to be more careful about their health.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Anny's overview of Parkinson's Disease. I was particularly interested in the portion of the blog that mentioned early onset of Parkinson's Disease. I decided to look into early onset of Parkinson's Disease, and how it differs from an older age of development. Early onset Parkinson's Disease could be potentially devastating if it affect's ones ability to work.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article I found, young onset occurs between ages of 21-40, and occurs more frequently in men. The article mentions that younger people tend to have a slow progression of illness. Some motor symptoms of early onset Parkinson's disease include tremor, rigidity, balance issues, and bradykinesia. Early onset can also cause depression from the lack of dopamine, sleep disorders, skin problems, and low blood pressure.
http://www.youngparkinsons.org/what-you-should-know-about-early-onset-parkinsons-disease/symptoms/information
I agree with all of the above commenters that if one is to even casually suggest any sort of link between a condition that affects 10% of the US population, one must be very clear about exactly what that link is. The lay article, I feel, did not do a good enough job of this. Many people with seasonal allergies may become worried for no reason. I think that it would be much more responsible to leave such speculation out of lay materials.
ReplyDeleteSource for allergy statistic: http://www.aaaai.org/about-the-aaaai/newsroom/allergy-statistics.aspx
I agree with Yvette and Richard. Lay articles most often can overgeneralize things in order to get the attention of the general public and often mislead the readers to thinking that these are great options in treating a disease. It is critical to do more research by looking into the references and the creditably of the authors. I do, however, the article did a great job in giving a brief overview of the disease and also in emphasizing its different signs and symptoms.
ReplyDelete