Review: A frustrating and intimate story of Parkinson’s disease

Book: Brain storms: the race to unlock the mysteries of Parkinson’s disease

Author: Jon Palfreman

Reviewed by: Reviewed by: Kevin Conboy, retired partner, Paul Hastings LLP; former president of the Irish Chamber of Atlanta

As a person of a certain age (not too accurately, I’m retired, have grandchildren, and qualify for Medicare benefits), I’m learning more and more about issues and conditions medical issues that I was previously unaware of.

At a high school reunion seven or eight years ago, I saw one of my classmates walking up a flight of stairs, slowly and deliberately, holding on to the banister. I learned that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. I only see my friend once a year in New York, but the disease is such that its advance on my friend is evident every year.

Two years ago he encouraged me to read the 2015 book Brain storms: the race to unlock the mysteries of Parkinson’s disease by Jon Palfreman. The book was so compelling that I immediately turned to my computer to see if the author had written a sequel.

It turns out the author is the same age as my classmate and me. An Englishman, Palfreman spent his career as a science journalist and reported on health issues including Parkinson’s disease (PD).

In Brain Storms, Palfreman traces the history of the study of Parkinson’s disease, including scientific and medical developments – and many dead ends. The story he tells is greatly enriched by his personal observations about his own Parkinson’s disease, diagnosed four years before the book’s publication.

It turns out that Parkinson’s disease has been known since ancient times, but it was first identified and described clinically by James Parkinson (1755-1824), an English surgeon and student of philosophy, geology, Latin and Greek, paleontology and politics. In 1817 he published a small monograph on a disease he called “trembling paralysis.”

Early on, it was discovered that Parkinson’s disease had its roots in the brain. But research and progress in determining its cause(s) have been hampered both by the variety of its apparent causes and the unpredictability of its various symptoms. Aggressive forms of Parkinson’s disease can be quickly and suddenly fatal; other forms and cases may be very mild and slow to develop.

In addition to its severe physical symptoms, PD can and often does affect the mind. Symptoms may come and go, sometimes responding to treatment, only to be frustratingly replaced by another challenge. My high school friend describes her PD as a “cruel bitch.”

Despite all the studies and work done to design or locate a cure for this progressive neurological disease, or a treatment that alleviates symptoms, the main methods of treatment have not changed much in recent decades: physiotherapy, exercise and activity mental; a healthy diet; and medications that increase or replace low levels of dopamine in the brain (usually produced in the brain by healthy individuals).

Actor Michael J. Fox has suffered from Parkinson’s disease for over 30 years. But as proof of the range of symptoms, varieties and causes, Lewy body dementia, also a form of Parkinson’s disease, was the late actor/comedian’s affliction. Robin Williams.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Get it if you know someone who has PD or are interested in health issues in general.

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