Among the many kinds of outreach and activities that help people with Parkinson’s disease (PD), art programs are popular and beneficial. They can provide social interaction, creativity, and movement, with the potential to enhance emotional and physical wellbeing. One program, Smile Through Art, benefited from a Community Grant from the Parkinson’s Foundation, allowing it to continue to reach people with PD and their care partners throughout the pandemic. Smile Through Art Workshops encourage creativity and movement, using art to address problems of fine motor control, rigidity, and tremors while providing cognitive stimulation. The goals are to foster confidence, mood, and optimism.

In this episode, Saba Shahid, the Chief Smile Officer and President of Creative Neurology, the company that developed the Smile Through Art program, discusses what the workshops entail, the success that they have had, and how a Community Grant from the Parkinson’s Foundation allowed the program to continue to reach people with PD during the pandemic.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) does not exclusively affect the older population. In fact, about four percent of people with PD in the United States developed the disease before age 50. This is called Young-Onset Parkinson’s disease (YOPD). While the disease in younger people resembles in many ways PD in the older age group, it presents some unique challenges, including issues with employment, sexuality, pregnancy, family life, financial planning and parenting. In this episode, the second of two on YOPD, Dr. Bart Post of Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, focuses on some of the social and interpersonal issues, including work, family, and women’s issues. He also describes the Phase of Life Dependent Support Program that he has developed at his university to meet the special needs of people with YOPD.

En este episodio, hablamos con Sebastián Krys, productor e ingeniero argentino y ganador de 19 Latin GRAMMYs y GRAMMYs, sobre su experiencia navegando las emociones que acompañan su recorrido por el Parkinson. Desde el diagnóstico inicial hasta la etapa de aceptación, Sebastián comparte cómo navega los obstáculos diarios que acompañan al Parkinson y dónde encuentra el mayor apoyo.

Entre la creatividad de su carrera, el ejercicio diario y el apoyo de sus amigos y familia, Sebastián concluye que lo más importante es levantarse cada día y vivir el mejor día posible, normalizando los cambios que resultan de la enfermedad al educarse e integrarse a la gran comunidad de apoyo del Parkinson.

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Although people often think of Parkinson’s disease (PD) as one affecting the elderly, approximately one in 25 people living with PD in the United States received their diagnosis before age 50. This is known as Young-Onset Parkinson’s disease (YOPD). While it shares many motor and non-motor symptoms with typically older onset disease, it does differ in some ways, particularly in terms of speed of progression, reaction to medications, life circumstances and underlying genetic risk factors.

In this episode, the first of two on YOPD, Dr. Bart Post of Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, describes some of the physical characteristics of YOPD. In the second episode, he will focus on some of the social and interpersonal issues, including work, family, and specifically women’s issues. He will also describe a program that his university has developed for people with YOPD.

Comprender todos los aspectos de una prueba genética – desde los positivos hasta los negativos – es un factor importante del trabajo de la consejería genética para que uno entienda y tenga una idea más clara de por qué se presentó/apareció o se manifestó una enfermedad en la familia.

En este episodio, hablamos con Priscila Delgado Hodges, asesora genética certificada y licenciada en el Departamento de Genética Médica y Molecular (MMGE) de la Facultad de Medicina de la Indiana University, acerca de la consejería genética.

Priscila explica qué es la consejería genética, qué puede esperar un paciente durante una visita y ofrece recomendaciones para personas interesadas en participar en estudios de investigación.

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Stress is almost a constant in our lives and especially when coping with changing symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Adding to the usual stresses are the pandemic with its social isolation and uncertainty of when it will be over, as well as the flood of local and international news. So we all deserve some time to focus on ourselves, and one useful technique is mindfulness meditation, in which a person focuses on being intensely aware of what they are sensing and feeling in that moment. This focus helps give insight into those senses and feelings without interpreting them or judging them. Various techniques can facilitate this practice to reduce stress, including breathing methods and guided imagery. In this episode, Crista Ellis, Community Program Manager with the Parkinson’s Foundation and a certified yoga and meditation educator, describes what mindfulness meditation is, how people can begin the practice, including the Foundation’s Mindfulness Mondays sessions, and what it can do for them.

The cause of most cases of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is unknown. Researchers have found genes or genetic variants that are associated with risk for the development of PD, but genetic causes are thought to play a role in only a minority of cases. However, accumulating evidence from epidemiologic studies, laboratory basic research, and animal models indicates that exposure to environmental toxins can increase risk of the disease. These substances include pesticides, solvents, metals, and other environmental pollutants. In this episode, Samuel Goldman, MD, MPH, Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, reviews what has been learned so far and explains some of the complexities of doing research on environmental causes of PD.

Entender si existe una correlación entre cultura, idioma y opciones de tratamiento en el Parkinson nos ayuda a saber cómo se comunica la información de la enfermedad entre los hispanohablantes (desde las opciones quirúrgicas hasta la información general de la enfermedad).

En este episodio, hablamos acerca de la neuropsicología, la familia y la cultura en la medicina con el doctor Xavier E. Cagigas, director asociado del Centro de Excelencia Neuropsiquiátrico para Hispanos de UCLA y profesor clínico asistente de ciencias de la salud en el departamento de Psiquiatría y Ciencias Bioconductuales en la University of California, Los Ángeles, UCLA.

El doctor Cagigas comparte su experiencia con los programas culturales de neuropsicología y la correlación entre cultura, idioma y opciones de tratamiento en el Parkinson.

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Restorative sleep is vital for optimal physical, mental, and emotional health. Sleep problems affect a large proportion of the general population and take many forms, so the consequences of poor sleep are widespread. In particular, sleep disturbances affect more than 75 percent of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). And according to our expert guest, Dr. Aleksandr Videnovic of Harvard Medical School and Director of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, these problems are under reported by patients and under diagnosed by health professionals. The causes of sleep problems include recurrent symptoms of PD, disordered breathing, REM sleep behavior disorder, restless leg syndrome, and periodic limb movement disorder, among other factors and may be multifactorial. In this episode, Dr. Videnovic addresses some of the most frequent sleep problems – insomnia, REM sleep behavior disorder, and daytime sleepiness.

It is a long road to become an anesthesiologist – four years of medical school and another four years of postgraduate training and residency. To subspecialize in cardiac anesthesiology requires at least one more year. And Dr. Jonathan Lessin, our guest today, did all of that before he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in his late 30’s, forcing him to adjust his career path.

Anesthesiology is a very “hands on” practice, requiring dexterity to insert and manipulate breathing tubes, intravascular catheters, and imaging, ventilatory, and other mechanical devices. It also requires stamina for long operations. Jonathan was able to continue working for some time after implantation of a deep brain stimulator (DBS). But, taking into account the safety of his patients, he eventually knew it was time to give up the profession he loved. In this episode, he relates his history, how he came to receive a Parkinson’s diagnosis from a friend, how he persevered as long as was practical, and what his DBS allows him to do now.