Announcements:
- tote bags for sale $10 --> contact Bailey Duemmel to purchase.
- pay for dues for the quarter ($5) or the entire year ($20) ---> Pay dues to May Wu.
- First year graduate students apply for NSSLHA positions. Email Claire at CWbrownie84@yahoo.com
Speaker: Laurie Campbell
- speech language pathologist in hospital setting
- born in Panama, had an active childhood
- currently has Parkinson’s Disease
- her early symptoms were similar to the flu, felt achy
- had bad headaches, neck strain
- she started fainting
- first diagnosed with migraines, put on migraine medication and had a stroke from it
- she had a lot of difficulty getting doctors to take her seriously and properly diagnose her.
- Parkinson’s is a brain disorder that affects the substantia negra
- Caused by a lack of dopamine in the body
- Dopamine doesn’t cross the blood/brain barrier and the body can’t absorb dopamine
- Signs and symptoms: rigidity, slowness of movements, visible shaking/tremors, difficulty with balance, cramping, stiff facial expressions, muffled or slurred speech, depression, dystonia is a symptom for young onset of PD.
- Seeing more of young-onset cases because there is more awareness and research being done.
- PD usually affects people over 65 y/o, 10% of people with PD start having symptoms before 40 y/o.
- There is no test to diagnose PD, it’s a process of elimination
- Those with parkinsonism or the symptoms and signs of PD without the disease itself can be due to medications, drugs, or other disorders or injuries.
- 3 types of PD: young-onset, idiopathic parkinson’s, and secondary parkinson’s
- people with PD become depressed because serotonin levels are also lacking
- because the disorder is progressive, constantly need to change medication as the symptoms change and progress
- as an SLP, should ask at every session if patient with PD has had any falls, if they are taking their medication, what they are taking
- There are no cure for PD, can treat with medications and surgery.
- Exercise slows progression of the disease ---> shown by recent studies, a new phenomenon.
- Treatments don’t slow the progression of the disease, but improve motor function and quality of life.
- However, the benefits gained by these treatments decline as the disease progresses.
- Levadopa helps produce dopamine in the brain and it reduces slowness, tremors, and stiffness.
- Sinemet is an older medication
- Selegiline inhibits the enzyme MAO-B, which breaks down dopamine. Carries some anti-depressant effect.
- There are two types of surgery: Pallidotomy and deep brain procedures. Patients who receive the most benefit from surgery are people with good general health, normal intellectual/memory function for their age, and continue to have benefit from levadopa.
- Pallidotomy destroys a section of the brain and helps with tremors, rigidity, bradykinesia, and levadtop-induced dyskinesia.
- Lee Silverman voice treatment is used for people with PD ---> patient does treatment (talking really loudly) five days a week for an hour plus an hour of homework, 2 hours of homework on the weekends.
- Need to always be aware of what the goals are of the patient
