These cells make dopamine, a chemical that helps control movement. This leads to movement difficulties, tremors, stiffness, and other symptoms that impact daily life.
How Parkinson’s Disease affects someone can change from day to day, and even from hour to hour.
Individuals with Parkinson’s can experience more than 40 different symptoms, with each person having a unique combination.
April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month and Parkinson’s Australia has launched the ‘I am more than my Parkinson’s’ campaign on YouTube.
The campaign provides opportunities to learn more about the issues facing people living with Parkinson’s every day and how their lives can be improved, particularly through exercise, social opportunities and community activities.
Although Yarrawonga Mulwala is comparatively small, there is a relatively high number of people who suffer from the disease.
Diagnosing Parkinson’s Disease
In Australia, there’s no simple test to diagnose Parkinson’s.
GPs use different methods such as medical history, watching for symptoms and seeking a specialist.
Sometimes, brain scans are used to rule out other problems but can’t confirm Parkinson’s Disease. Diagnosis is mostly based on symptoms and the effectiveness of drug therapy.
There is no cure but looking after one’s body, mind, and social life can help. There are medicines that help by increasing dopamine, and work at all stages of the disease.
Recently Fight Parkinson’s and The University of Tasmania announced a joint $3.7 million investment to bring the internationally recognised ParkinsonNet model of multidisciplinary care to Australia.
ParkinsonNet was developed in the Netherlands and has proven across Europe and the United States to improve health outcomes, reduce disability, lower hospitalisation rates and cut healthcare costs.
It will be piloted in Western Victoria, including Geelong and the Bellarine, and Tasmania.
How you can help
This month, the Shake It Up Australia Foundation is also calling on Aussies to host a pancake themed event and raise funds with the return of its Pancakes 4 Parkinson's campaign.
All Australians are invited to turn a simple breakfast recipe into a potential cure for Parkinson’s Disease.
Pancakes 4 Parkinson's is more than just a fundraising event; it's a community-driven initiative that brings people together to share a meal, raise awareness, and contribute to vital research.
With ParkinsonNet being introduced to parts of Victoria and further research occurring daily, hopefully one day the world can be free of Parkinson’s.
“Just have to grin and bear it”
Life with Parkinson’s is an immense struggle, sometimes making it hard to even get out of bed in the morning, but a local Yarrawonga lady, who would like to remain nameless, is determined to not let it stop her.
Her Parkinson’s journey started 29 years ago when she noticed a number of things with her body were not right.
“It started down my left side; a shaking left hand, very sore left shoulder,” the lady said.
“I then started getting leg cramps primarily on my left and stone face, where you are almost expressionless and unable to convey through facial expressions how you are feeling.”
However, it took 11 years for a diagnosis with the Yarrawonga local now having suffered with the disease for 19 years and beginning to notice some of its effects immensely. She has maintained that she has never let it stop her from doing the things she loves.
“I have learnt to live with it, you just have to. You can't change the way things are, so you've just got to grin and bear it,” she said.
“There is no cure, but you can’t just stop and let it take over, so you do the best you can to keep going.
“How I go living with the disease has changed a lot lately. Ordinarily you get a sore knee and it gets better, but with Parkinson's, you get a sore knee and it just gets worse.
“It's a debilitating disease that some people can cope with and some can't. But I'm starting to have a few problems.
“I didn't know that my eyesight would be going.
“I'm now struggling with being able to hold a conversation without feeling that they will get tired of the conversation. I keep forgetting the things that I want to say and that's very frustrating.
“The shakes are the least of my worries. I'll walk down the street and I'll have about two or three trips where I nearly fall over and it makes it hard.
“One of the worst things is people making negative comments, like ‘oh well, you'll die of dementia anyway.’
“Generally, people are understanding and kind, it is just one of those things we all learn more about every day.”
For those who have received a recent diagnosis, support is never far away with Yarrawonga hosting its own support group once a month.
The Yarrawonga Mulwala Parkinson’s Disease Support Group runs on the last Thursday of the month at the Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort with “a great group of people coming along“.
People are coming out of the woodwork with about 24 at the last get together.
“Some of them sit around talking and laughing whilst some were saying, ‘what's going to happen to me in the next 12 months?’,” the lady said.
“But to know there is support around for them eases their concerns a little.
“It's good to be getting together to catch up, have a bit of a chat and know there's others who completely understand what you are going through close by.”
“It's good to be getting together to catch up, have a bit of a chat and know there's others who completely understand what you are going through close by.”
Although the lady’s life is different now she has Parkinson’s, it is not what all her life is about.
“I want us to get to the cure, to stop others from suffering from this in the future.”
Parkinson’s Statistics
Parkinson’s Disease is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world with 10 million people affected.
In Australia it is the second most common neurological disease, second only to dementia.
• There are 150,000 people living with Parkinson’s Disease in Australia with 50 people diagnosed every day.
• Every year, 19,500 new cases are recorded.
• One Australian is diagnosed every 27 minutes.
• There are more than 1100 Aussies under 65 who develop young onset PD (aged in their 20s to 50s) each year.
• Young onset PD makes up 10 to 20 per cent of all people living with Parkinson’s Disease.
• Parkinson’s incidence rates increase 4 per cent each year. 52 per cent are male, 48 per cent are female.
• The prevalence of PD in Australia is higher than that of many cancers, including breast, colorectal, stomach, liver and pancreatic cancer.
• Up to 40 per cent of those living with PD in Australia live outside major capital cities.
• Between 2003 and 2023, the rate of fatal burden of disease (years of life lost) due to Parkinson’s disease increased by 57 per cent for men and 24 per cent for women.
Support is on hand
Receiving a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease can be difficult but there is always support available and someone to listen to any worries sufferers may have.
There is also support for family members of Parkinson’s sufferers.
– Yarrawonga Mulwala Parkinson’s Disease Support Group
– Facebook: Yarrawonga Parkinson’s group. Ph: Judy Ramsdale 5744 1974
– Yarrawonga Health Health Hub entrance 3 03 5743 8501.
– Corowa Carers Support Group meets every second month, Corowa RSL Club bistro 02 6033 1340
– Corowa Health Service, 53 Guy St, Corowa. Ph 02 6033 7555
– Murrumbidgee LHD Ph 02 5943 1600.
– Fight Parkinson’s Vic Ph 8809 0400 info@parkinsons-vic.org.au.
– Parkinson’s NSW 1800 644 189.
