WASHINGTON, May 25 (UPI) -- The non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease are often not recognized as a part of the disease, researchers said this week.
Yet those symptoms are often more distressing than the tremors and rigidity characteristic of the disorder, researchers said in the May 24 Harvard Women's Health Watch Newsletter.
The authors of the article urged people with Parkinson's to see their neurologist if they experience depression, cognitive problems, hallucinations or delusions, sexual problems, compulsive behavior, loss of smell or taste, constipation or blood-pressure instability, all of which can be caused by the disorder and adequately treated if they are recognized as part of PD.
According to a survey the authors used, 88 percent of people with Parkinson's had at least one of these non-motor symptoms.
Changes in taste and smell can occur before or along with the motor problems, the researchers said. Depression has recently been recognized as a symptom of PD rather than a response to the struggle with chronic illness, and it occurs in more than half of Parkinson's patients.
About 40 percent develop dementia or other cognitive difficulties, 20 percent experience hallucinations or delusions and constipation is a common problem, the authors said.
Since PD interferes with the nervous system's control of heart function, people with Parkinson's can have difficulty adjusting their blood pressure. Women with PD sometimes report decreased libido, vaginal tightness and an inability to achieve orgasm, they added.
Both genders with PD may have trouble with compulsive behaviors, such as gambling, shopping or compulsive sexuality that occur as a side effect of some Parkinson's medications, the authors noted.
