Parkinson's Disease

In Parkinson's disease the nerve cells in the brain that make dopamine slowly decrease, so movement becomes slow (bradykinesia), with tremor, muscle stiffness and changes in walking. How it progresses varies a great deal from person to person, and many people keep up daily life for a long time with medicine.

• The hand shakes when you are still, and shakes less when you move
• Walking gets slower, the arms swing less, and handwriting gets smaller
• The face shows less expression and the voice gets quieter
• A poor sense of smell, or long-standing heavy talking in your sleep with thrashing about

See neurology (a specialist in Parkinson's disease and movement disorders if possible). A good share of hand tremor is not Parkinson's disease but has another cause, such as essential tremor.

• Medicine (levodopa and others) is the mainstay, and taking it at the right times is the key to controlling symptoms
• Regular exercise (walking, stretching, tai chi and so on) matters as much as the medicine
• If the disease progresses and the effect of the medicine swings more, deep brain stimulation (DBS) and similar options can be considered
• Constipation, sleep problems and low mood are part of the illness too, so raise them at your appointment

If you register under the special cost-sharing program for serious illness (산정특례), your out-of-pocket cost falls to 10%.