So when I heard an interview about a book on Parkinson's I decided to find it. The interview was with the author , Jon Palfreman, and he caught my attention.
The book is called Brain Storms : My fight against Parkinson's and the race to unlock the secrets of one of the brain's most mysterious diseases.
Brian Palfreman worked in journalism and once diagnosed with Parkinson's became preoccupied with discovering all he could about the disease and if he could be treated.
Parkinson's was discovered in 1817. Going back before 1817 many people of historical significance can be identified as having had Parkinson's.
So Palfreman goes through the history of the many things that have been done to discover what causes Parkinson's and the many things that have been done in an effort to treat Parkinson's. Many discoveries have been made that seemed promising and then turned out to be of little value. Each discovery and trial has lead further but not to a conclusion.
The main area of research now is genetic. The hope is to find a cause and then to be able to treat Parkinson's.
So on down the line we have drugs, surgery, grafting, exercise and gene therapy.
"Parkies", as they like to call themselves, are optimistic and hopeful that treatment and prevention will be developed. I hope they're right as many of us will develop Parkinson's.
I found this book to be a fascinating read.
