Parkinsons’ Disease
Parkinsons’ Disease
Parkinson disease is a nervous system disorder common in elderly people. In addition, the diseases affect younger adults. Parkinson disease has no cure, and the objective of treatment is to control the disease symptoms (Lees, Hindle & Playfer, 2008). Drugs control the symptoms by raising the dopamine levels in the brain. The symptoms can return if the useful effects of the drugs wear off. Different drugs are used to treat Parkinson disease including Levodopa.
Levodopa is the most commonly used drug and has been used for more than 30 years. The doapa decarboxylse changes dopamine in the dopaminergic neurons. The drug has side effects such as nausea, dyskinesias. In addition, the drug causes stiffness of the joints. The drug can worsen the condition, and the patient stops to respond to medication. Another drug is dopamine agonist. The dopamine agonists have similar effects like Levodopa (Weiner & Factor, 2007).
They were used together with Levodopa to treat dyskinesias, but are used alone. Physicians use dopamine agonist as a first therapy for treating motor symptoms and delaying motor complications. The drugs have mild side effects like nausea, insomnia and drowsiness that force the physician to use alternative medication. Dopamine agonists are not effective in controlling symptoms. In addition, MAO-B inhibitors are not effective in treating the disease as they produce more adverse effects. They help in improving motor symptoms and hence delaying patient need for Levodopa.
A combination therapy can be effective in treating Parkinson’s disease. Physicians should combine Carbodia and Levodopa when treating patients to ensure the treatment is effective. Combining the drugs prevents nausea and vomiting. It also brings therapeutic results faster and improvement on patents who have reached the maximum tolerance for a single medication (Scharrnburg & Ronken, 2002).
Reference
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