What Is Alzheimer’s Disease?

Alzheimer’s disease affects memory and thinking and accounts for 60% – 80% of all dementia cases. Early signs of Alzheimer’s may resemble basic age-related memory issues, but as symptoms progress, people experience severe memory loss, confusion, and difficulty thinking and performing daily tasks. 

What Is Parkinson’s Disease?

Signs and symptoms usually start slowly and get worse over time. One of the first signs is chorea. This is a jerky or twisting movement you can’t control. Chorea often begins in your hands, fingers or face. It then spreads to your arms, legs and body. This movement can make it hard to speak, eat or walk.

Other physical symptoms may include:

Parkinson’s disease primarily affects movement, with symptoms like tremor, slowed movements or freezing (the sudden inability to move), and loss of balance and coordination progressively getting worse over time. Dementia symptoms similar to those of Alzheimer’s can occur eventually in Parkinson’s disease, but they are not the primary symptoms.

Differences in treatment:

There’s no cure for either AD or PD. For AD, there are several drugs that can treat the symptoms. This includes Trusted Sourcedrugs that help regulate the levels of chemical messengers in the brain or drugs that help reduce amyloid plaques in the brain.

It may also include antipsychotic drugs to manage agitation or aggression or antidepressants to address depression. For PD, there are also drugs that can help address the motor symptoms of PD and drugs to manage the nonmotor symptoms of PD. One example is prescribing antidepressants to treat depression associated with PD.

Nondrug treatments can also help people with both conditions.
These include:
  1. keeping yourself mentally stimulated
  2. getting regular exercise
  3. eating a healthy, balanced diet
  4. developing a support network that can help improve your mental and emotional well-being
  5. receiving physical and occupational therapy
  6. receiving speech therapy
  7. receiving talk therapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy
  8. seeking complementary therapies such as massage or yoga
Deep brain stimulation may also be helpful for some people with PD that doesn’t respond well to medications. The best strategy for you will depend on which disease you are living with and its stage of progression.
Differences in risk factors
AD include:
  1. Down syndrome
  2. heart disease
  3. high blood pressure
  4. stroke
  5. obesity
  6. diabetes
  7. traumatic brain injury
PD include:
Being male and being exposed to pesticides.

Can You Treat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Together?

Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are generally treated with different medications and therapies tailored to their specific symptoms.
Alzheimer’s drugs have proven effective in reducing the amount of toxic amyloid-beta proteins that cause the disease. Researchers hope that a similar approach may soon result in treatments that can target the harmful protein clumps found in Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

In Parkinson’s, the brain loses the ability to create the chemical dopamine, which is involved in movement. For this reason, common Parkinson’s treatments include drugs to regulate dopamine levels and deep brain stimulation to trigger parts of the brain responsible for motor skills. People with Parkinson’s may also undergo physical therapy to help manage symptoms.

alzheimer