Greater than a decade after retiring from soccer, Brett Favre says he has Parkinson’s illness.
Favre advised a congressional listening to Tuesday that he had been not too long ago identified. There are almost 90,000 new Parkinson’s instances annually within the U.S., based on the Parkinson’s Basis.
Listed below are some questions and solutions in regards to the illness:
What’s Parkinson’s?
Parkinson’s is a neurologic illness that robs folks of management over their actions. It usually begins with tremors, and is characterised by sluggish motion, a shuffling gait, stiff limbs, stability issues and slurred speech.
Who will get it?
About 1 million Individuals reside with Parkinson’s, and 10 million folks worldwide, the muse estimates. It often seems after age 60, though typically it may develop earlier than age 50.
Parkinson’s illness is a progressive motion dysfunction of the nervous system that weakens nerve cells and results in signs, together with issues with motion, tremor, stiffness and impaired stability.
What causes it?
The precise trigger isn’t recognized however Parkinson’s develops when cells that produce one of many mind’s chemical messengers, known as dopamine, start to deteriorate and die. Dopamine transports alerts to components of the mind that management motion. Parkinson’s signs seem after sufficient dopamine-producing cells die that there’s too little of this neurotransmitter within the mind.
Based on the muse, most consultants consider genetic and environmental components are behind the illness. Dozens of gene mutations linked to Parkinson’s have been found and genetics account for 10 to fifteen% of all Parkinson’s, the group says. Different components suspected of accelerating the danger embrace head accidents, publicity to pesticides and herbicides and the place you reside. Favre mentioned on a radio present in 2022 that he estimates he might have skilled “1000’s” of concussions in his twenty years within the NFL.
Is there a treatment?
There isn’t any treatment however there are remedies, together with drugs that have an effect on dopamine ranges and a surgically implanted tremor-blocking system. Sufferers can also profit from bodily and occupational remedy.
What’s the prognosis?
Signs worsen over time, often slowly. The severity of signs, and the way shortly they progress, varies broadly between sufferers. In superior instances, folks could also be unable to stroll or look after themselves. In addition they can undergo from despair, in addition to reminiscence and pondering issues.
Whereas Parkinson’s itself isn’t thought of deadly, folks can die from problems of the illness, together with lung issues as muscle weak spot impedes the power to cough and to swallow.
___
The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives help from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Instructional Media Group. The AP is solely accountable for all content material.