From the category archives:

Movement Disorders

Relief From Parkinson Disease Freezing & Off Time

October 8, 2008

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, just behind Alzheimer’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is characterized by specific clinical symptoms including rigidity (stiffness), slowness of movement, unsteadiness (gait imbalance) and tremor. For the accurate diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease to be made, a patient needs to have 3 of the 4 major symptoms of the [...]

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Parkinson’s Disease May Benefit From Early Deep Brain Stimulation

July 10, 2008

Recent studies have suggested that qualifying Parkinson patients benefit from earlier treatment with deep brain stimulation, as reported in Clinical Neurology News. The study indicates that younger Parkinson disease patients are more likely to benefit from early brain stimulator treatment. There is information that may suggest that this therapy may have a protective effect in [...]

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Neupro Patch for Parkinson’s Disease Recalled by FDA

May 13, 2008

Neupro patches were approved by the FDA for Parkinson’s disease treatment in September 2007. They proved to be very effective in the control of Parkinson symptoms, as compared to the effects of other dopamine agonists including Mirapex and Requip. Unfortunately, in March, the FDA recalled Neupro due to problem with the patch delivery of the [...]

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Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus – A Rare Cause of Memory Loss & Gait Difficulty

December 3, 2007

Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a rare disorder that is characterized by progressive gait difficulty, urinary incontinence and memory loss. Although the press has covered this topic extensively in both the written and video media, true normal pressure hydrocephalus remains quite uncommon. The underlying problem is actually an excessive build up of spinal fluid in [...]

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Myasthenia Gravis – A Rare Muscle Weakness Disorder

November 5, 2007

Myasthenia gravis is a rare disorder of muscle weakness, affecting approximately 70,000 individuals in the United States. Many confuse this with multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is a central nervous system disorder affecting the insulation (myelin) on nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. In contrast myasthenia gravis is a muscle disease where transmission of [...]

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New Findings in Restless Legs Syndrome

October 8, 2007

One of the most frustrating neurological conditions is restless legs syndrome (RLS.) It is characterized by an intense overwhelming need to move your legs at night or when sitting or resting. This can be so severe that affected individuals have difficulty sitting through a movie or driving in a car for any distance. Occasionally [...]

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Tremor – Not Everything That Shakes is Parkinson’s Disease

April 30, 2007

Essential tremor is a common disorder than is characterized by involuntary shaking of the head, jaw, hands or legs. It is estimated that there are 5-10 million affected individuals in the United States. Unfortunately, many patients are incorrectly diagnosed as having Parkinson’s disease when they actually have a form of essential tremor (ET). ET tends [...]

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Botox: Effective Treatment for Dystonia and Muscle Spasm

October 26, 2006

Botox (botulinum toxin Type A) has been available in the United States for clinical use since 1989. At that time it was approved by the FDA for treatment of eye and facial muscle spasm disorders, blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm respectively. Then in 2000 the FDA approved Myobloc (botulinum toxin Type B) for treatment of cervical [...]

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Restless Legs Syndrome – Why Can’t I Sleep?

September 29, 2006

Restless legs syndrome is a movement disorder that affects approximately 10% of the American population. Affected individuals have the uncontrollable urge to move their legs, particularly at night when sleeping. Symptoms can also occur with sitting for prolonged periods of time such as when driving, flying or watching a movie. If the condition worsens, the [...]

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