Hand tremor ≠ Parkinson's, slow movement is the core symptom of Parkinson's?

When talking about Parkinson's disease, people often immediately think of the image of involuntary hand tremor. Because this feature is deeply rooted in people's minds, any tremor symptoms are easily mistaken for a sign of Parkinson's disease.

However, hand tremor is actually a common phenomenon. It may be caused by psychological tension alone, accompanied by panic. In addition, hyperthyroidism or the use of certain hormones may also cause hand tremor. It is worth mentioning that essential tremor is one of the diseases most closely related to hand tremor.

This type of tremor intensifies when you are nervous and becomes more obvious as the movement increases. It is completely different from the static tremor of Parkinson's disease - the latter does not tremble when moving, which is the most significant difference between the two. Therefore, hand tremor cannot be directly equated with Parkinson's disease.

◆ What are the typical symptoms of Parkinson's disease?

Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disease in the middle-aged and elderly. Its root cause is damage to the area in the brain that regulates motor function. Patients often show symptoms such as hand tremors, movement interruptions, and slow movements.

Parkinson's disease has the following four significant characteristics:

• Particularly obvious when in a static state.
• Further aggravated when mentally stressed.
• Reduced when performing autonomous movements.
• Completely disappeared when asleep.

Slow movements are the core symptom of Parkinson's disease:

• Daily activities such as getting up, turning over, brushing teeth, and washing face become slow and clumsy.
• Lack of facial expression, reduced blinking, staring, and slow smiles appearing and disappearing.
• The tone of speech is lowered and the speech becomes unclear.
• The handwriting is small and curved when writing, making it difficult to recognize.

For Parkinson's patients, special attention should be paid to medication. At present, there is no cure for Parkinson's disease, and patients need to take medication for life to control the disease.