How Do Doctors Diagnose Parkinsons Disease?
Even for an experienced neurologist, making an accurate diagnosis in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease can be difficult. There are, as yet, no sophisticated blood or laboratory tests available to diagnose the disease. The physician may need to observe the patient for some time until it is apparent that the tremor is consistently present and is joined by one or more of the other classic symptoms. Since other forms of Parkinsonism have similar features but require different treatments, making a precise diagnosis as soon as possible is essential for starting a patient on proper medication. How Is the Disease Treated? At present, there is no cure for Parkinson’s disease. But a variety of medications provide dramatic relief from the symptoms. When recommending a course of treatment, the physician determines how much the symptoms disrupt the patient’s life and then tailors therapy to the person’s particular condition. Since no two patients will react the same way to a given drug, it ma
