Question: what is Parkinson disese

Matt Dunn answered on 13 Jun 2016:

Hi Roxy,

Parkinson’s disease is where some cells in a small part of the brain slowly die. Sometimes the disease is very mild, but sometimes it can be very severe. I’ll describe how the disease progresses for the worst type of Parkinsons:

You don’t notice anything at first, but as more and more cells die, symptoms begin to develop, such as movements being shaky, food not tasting the same, talking becoming harder, muscles being more rigid than normal. As more cells die you can lose the ability to move properly, meaning you need special shoes or a wheelchair, and you can find it very hard to talk and make yourself understood. Soon the disease spreads to your memory, and you can begin to lose your memories and forget people and places. Eventually you lose everything, and cannot even recognise your own family or function in social situations.

It is a terrible condition and I only hope my work contributes towards proper treatments to give people their lives back.