John O’ Mahony, Chairperson of the Dublin Branch of the Parkinsons Association of Ireland has informed Be Independent Home Care that a meeting on “Drama Therapy for people with Parkinson’s” is being held at Naomh Mearnóg GAA Club premesis Portmarnock on Tuesday next 14th May 2013. Anyone interested should contact Tony Brady at 846 3513 for more details. This should be a very interesting meeting and certainly worth attending.
Parkinsons at its simplest, is a progressive neurological disorder, which so far cannot be cured. It is variable in its progression, i.e. some people progress more slowly than others, and the symptoms can be effectively controlled with medication for many years. Parkinson’s results from a shortage of dopamine, a chemical that helps instructions from the brain to cross from one nerve cell to the next, in a part of the brain called the substantia nigra, which has to do with controlling movement. We all lose some of this chemical as we get older, and the loss starts at birth! However, it is only when we have lost about 80% of our dopamine we start to have symptoms. So people with Parkinson’s have lost this chemical at a slightly faster rate than others