Is Parkinson’s Disease Hereditary?

Is Parkinson’s Disease Hereditary?

Parkinson’s disease is hereditary. Meaning somebody has had it and it’s in your genetic code to have it. But as we know through studies and epigenetics, we don’t express all of our genes. We have a billion genes and at any point in time we only express a handful. When we are born we express a handful, you didn’t have Parkinson’s when you were born, it happened later in life. It was lifestyle driven, it was something like stressed placed upon you, though not necessarily emotional, it could be physiologic as well. It could be toxins and other things can force your body to adapt to the stressor and create a reading of the genetic code that creates Parkinson’s. So if we can stop those Parkinson’s genes from being unraveled it doesn’t matter your heredity or genetic predisposition is. It matters whether you express it or not. So yes it is hereditary, do you have to have it? No.

What is Parkinson’s disease?

Parkinson’s disease is an autoimmune disease that affects the basal ganglia and substantia nigra of the brain. It’s your own immune system attacking itself. This progressive disorder of the nervous system affects movement.

What are the characteristics of Parkinson’s Disease?

What it comes down to is most the time an MRI doesn’t show any type of changes within the brain function, and it’s diagnosis is done more symptomatically – whether you’re having spasms, you’re doing pill rolling in your hands. You walk around without a smile on your face and appear expressionless, which is called facies. You have really rigid muscles and muscles spasms, trouble with your memory, trouble with your sleep … Those are the type of things that characterize Parkinson’s Disease.

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