• Question: Have you found a way of stopping, preventing or helping Parkinson's, (my grandad currently has it and he is quite slow, shaky and forgetful)? :(

    Asked by Cup Cakes. to Matt on 20 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Matt Dunn

      Matt Dunn answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      Great question 😀 My work at the moment is all about trying to make a ‘basal ganglia’ outside the body. This brain area, if it is damaged, can cause Parkinson’s and/or Huntington’s diseases. If we have an easier way to study this brain area using my model, it will be a lot quicker and more efficient to find treatments, therapies and protective factors to help people with Parkinson’s, and to prevent people in the future from developing the condition.

      At the moment, there is no guaranteed way to prevent the disease, except living a healthy lifestyle and avoiding anything that could damage the brain (some evidence shows that certain kinds of diets, such as ketogenic or low-carb diets, could have a positive effect on the brain). Stopping the disease is also very hard, as we are still not 100% sure what actually kills the cells in the brain that causes Parkinson’s. We know what cells die and when, but not how or why. My research is all about gathering more information so that we can make more informed decisions and figure out how the disease works and how to stop it.

      Helping people with Parkinson’s is a much more successful area. There are several treatments and therapies that can decrease the effects of the symptoms (the shakiness and slowness) for a short time, such as Deep Brain Stimulation, L-Dopa treatments and physical therapy. The best thing for people like your grandad is to try and stay physically active, and see what options his doctors have for a more comfortable quality of life (there are some cool inventions, such as spoons with a gyroscope that aren’t affected by shaking, called Liftware, that can also help with day to day activities).

      It’s a disease that nobody should have to live with, so there are lots of different ways to improve life for people living with Parkinson’s (try the Parkinson’s UK website, it has lots of very useful information) 🙂

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