8 early warning signs of parkinson’s disease

Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre told a congressional committee on Sept. 24 that he was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a progressive brain disorder that causes unintended or

uncontrollable movements. As with other celebrities before him, the athlete’s disclosure is shining a spotlight on the disease that affects as many as 1 million Americans. Most of us can

recognize some signs of Parkinson’s disease, such as tremor and trouble walking. But signs that can appear a decade or more before the disease presents in more obvious physical forms are

often mistaken for something else — including normal aging. Common problems among older adults, such as trouble sleeping, constipation, muscle stiffness and increased anxiety and depression,

are related to early-stage Parkinson’s. So is loss of smell, a well-established symptom of COVID-19. Experiencing them doesn’t mean you have Parkinson’s disease, but they are worth

discussing with your doctor, especially if you have several of them at the same time. “The early signs are normally not problems that bring anybody to the doctor,” says Michele Tagliati,

M.D., director of the Movement Disorders Program and vice chair of the department of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. That’s because the effects of Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative

order, are far-reaching and often lead to changes long before a tremor appears. Twenty-five percent of people with Parkinson’s may not even develop a tremor, research shows. Though there is

no cure for Parkinson’s, medications can treat the symptoms, lifestyle changes can help manage the disease, and an early diagnosis can ease planning. Here are eight things to look for. 1.

RESTLESS SLEEPING Talking in your sleep, sleepwalking and/or acting out your dreams, also known as REM sleep behavior disorder, can be early warning signs of Parkinson’s. “We are supposed to

be completely still and paralyzed” during sleep, Tagliati says, but for someone with Parkinson’s, the “mechanism in the brain that oversees this phase of sleep is somewhat defective.” One

sign of this problem is falling out of bed. If you live with someone, they might see or hear you acting out your dreams. Sometimes people even kick or punch in their sleep or jump out of bed

suddenly. If you live alone, you may wake up with twisted sheets or jar yourself awake yelling, says Camilla Kilbane, M.D., a neurologist and movement disorder specialist at University

Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. 2. LOSS OF SMELL Losing your sense of smell, or hyposmia, is a well-known symptom of COVID-19 and other viral infections. Researchers aren’t quite sure

why it’s associated with Parkinson’s, Tagliati says, but this symptom appears in 90 percent of early-stage Parkinson’s cases.