New insights into Parkinson’s disease suggest that these might be the early signs of alterations in the brain that means you are at higher threat of developing Parkinson’s.

When people speak about Parkinson’s disease, the image that many often comes to mind is of an elderly one who shakes and has trouble moving. Moreover, in the later stages of Parkinson’s, this is often true. Bradykinesia (a medical term for slowed movement) and tremor (the shaking which can be so prominent in Parkinson’s) are a couple of the most vitally important the signs of the disease.

However, research during the last 15 years has begun to shed light on a number of the changes and symptoms that happen much earlier into the disease, sometimes well before the alterations in movement. What exactly are these early warning signs that you could be at increased risk of developing Parkinson’s? Here are four of the most common ones.

A typical recollection by those who are clinically determined to have Parkinson’s is the fact that they remember alterations in their feeling of smell several years before developing any tremor or any other movement problems. However, many people might not even recognize that their sense of smell is terrible. It is only once tested that individuals note that up to 90% of men and women coping with Parkinson’s have forfeit their feeling of smell.

There was a connection between changes in sleep patterns called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder, additionally the danger of developing Parkinson’s. REM sleep behavior disorder, or RBD for short, is much more than merely experiencing a restless night. People with RBD act out their dreams, sometimes moving violently within their sleep, to your extent that they will even injure themselves, but with often no recollection of their actions.

Issues with digestion and bowel movements are a significant problem if you have Parkinson’s; therefore we now know that these problems may start a long time before the tremor and difficulties with movement that lead to someone being referred to a neurologist.

As for many of these early symptoms, people can develop constipation for many different reasons. However, it is clear that individuals living with Parkinson’s suffer from bowel motions. Constipation may, in reality, be one of the very earliest features, occurring up to 20 years before Parkinson’s is diagnosed.

Feeling anxious or depressed, far above the common good and the bad of daily life, is one of the most significant issues that people with Parkinson’s report — sometimes noting it as even more of a challenge than changes in movement. We think that this is as a result of changes in the balance of chemical activity in the brain and that these changes set up to 10 years before folks are clinically determined to have Parkinson’s.

It is important to remember that there lots of explanations why anyone, or combination, of these changes, might happen. Moreover, even when you have all of them, it does not imply that you can expect to develop Parkinson’s disease. However, there is good evidence that many people that are clinically have Parkinson’s have experienced some or most of these symptoms.