About Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive neurological disorder killing brain cells that produce dopamine. Dopamine is a neurochemical that controls motor functions. When 80% of the dopamine-producing cells have died, slowness of movement, tremor, and rigidity appear. Over one million Americans are afflicted: 30% diagnosed are under age 50, and 40% are under age 60. As the disease progresses, other problems such as poor posture, balance instability, and difficulty with speech and swallowing may occur.

There are a variety of effective medications used to treat the symptoms of the disease, but to date there is no medication that has been proven to stop the progression or provide a cure.

Sometimes it is not Parkinson's, read the story

There is a great deal of information available about Parkinson's disease and the medications used to treat it. For more detailed materials or to receive our caregiver's package r newsletter, you may contact PPSG at 408.542.5610 or send email to info@ppsg.org  to be placed on our mailing list.

This page was last updated June 21, 2008.