ARTICLES
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By Dr. N. Srinivasan
1)Senior Health Care

• AGING – External Changes
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• Skin becomes dry and looses it luster
• Wrinkles appear
• Loss of hair – Temperature regulation is altered due to loss of hair. They become susceptible to cold and shivering is common to preserve heat.
• Gray hair
• Postural changes and gait
• Impaired vision – Cataract related to aging. Clouding of the lens affects vision.
• Loss of hearing
• Loss of teeth
• Nervous System-Internal changes
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• Brain – Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease appearing after 50 years. Symptoms are dementia, depression and loss of memory. This leads to incoherent speech, difficulty in simple mathematical calculations and loss of memory for recent events. No treatment exists
• Parkinsonism – Tremor and shuffling gait. Progressive disorder. Treatment is anti-Parkinson drugs.
• Senile dementia and senile tremor due to loss of blood supply to parts of the brain.
• Sleep disorders such as insomnia, disordered breathing, snoring and sleep apnea.
• Circulatory System
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• Disorders of the Heart – Heart attack due to obstruction of the coronary artery.
• Hypertension due to thickening of the arterial walls – Normal blood pressure is 120/80 (Systolic/diastolic). Ranges up to 140/90
• Blood pressure changes throughout the day. Lowest while sleeping and rises on excitement. Blood pressure affects the heart (heart attack or stroke), kidney (Kidney failure) and brain (stroke)
• Metabolic Disorders
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• Diabetes – Type 1 is juvenile and insulin dependent. Type 2 normally in old age due to obesity (non-insulin dependent)
• Arthritis
• Degenerative disorder and calcium deficiency prone to fractures
• COPD
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• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Caused due to heavy smoking and repeated infection like bronchitis,
• Shortness of breath while exercising – wheezing and tightness of chest
• Digestive System
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• Constipation, diarrhea
• Reflex oesophagitis
• Exercise and healthy eating. Exercises – Strength, balance, stretching and endurance
• Strength exercise –
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• Build muscle. Small increase in muscle causes a big difference in physical ability. Increases your metabolism. Maintains weight and blood sugar. Studies suggest that strength exercises may prevent bone destruction. Examples are weight lifting
• Balance Exercises –
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• Helps prevent common problem of falls in older adults. Falls are the major cause of broken hips and other injuries. Some balance exercises build up your leg muscle. Examples are standing on one leg to balance
• Stretching Exercise –
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• Hold your body structure in place. Physical therapist recommend certain stretching exercise to help patients recover from injury and prevent injuries.
• Endurance Exercise –
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• Increases breathing and heart rate. Improves your heart, lungs and circulatory system. It can also improve stamina to do things on your own i.e. climbing stairs, grocery shopping. Endurance exercise may also delay or prevent many diseases associated with aging such as diabetes, colon cancer, heart diseases and strokes
• Moderate Exercises –
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• Swimming, bicycling, gardening, walking briskly on level surface, mopping or scrubbing the floor.
• Vigorous exercises –
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• Shoveling snow, brisk uphill bicycling, tennis singles, cross country skiing, jogging and hiking
• Adopting healthy behavior such as eating nutritious foods, being physically active and avoiding tobacco can prevent or control the devastating effects of many of the leading causes of death regardless of one’s age.
FOR FOOD HABITS PLEASE REFER BELOW GIVEN WEB PAGE =================================================
• http://nutrition.tufts.edu/pdf/pyramid.pd
2)Parkinson Disease (PD)
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Causes
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Excessive muscle contraction
Insufficient Dopamine secretion
Idiopathic (Obscure or Unknown Cause)
Toxicity of drugs
Genetic mutations (Hereditary)
Head trauma
Other medical diseases
Symptoms
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Degenerative disorder of the CNS affects
Motor skills
Non-motor skills e.g. speech
Motor Symptoms
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Tremor - esp. when limb is at rest
Rigidity - stiffness; increased muscle tone; Slowness or absence of movement
Postural instability - failure of postural reflexes
Gait and posture disturbances – Stoop, Shuffling, freezing, abnormal sustained painful movement
Non-Motor Symptoms
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Hypophonia - soft speech
Excessively rapid, poorly-intelligible spe ech
Dysphagia- impaired ability toswallow
Decreased verbal fluency
Mood disturbances – Depression
Sleep disturbance, Pain
Impaired vision
Other symptoms, fatigue,masked faces
micrographia,difficulty in rolling on bed
Diagnosis
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Medical history and neurological examination
Observation of the person for presence of consistent symptoms
Difficult to diagnose accurately
Treatment
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Drug Treatment e.g. L-dopa, Bromocriptine, Pergolide
Speech therapy
Physical Exercise
Surgical treatment for advanced PD
Methods undergoing Evaluation
Gene therapy
Neuro-protective treatments
Neural transplants
Nutrients
Additional Information
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Famous people with PD
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Mohammad Ali (Boxer), Michael J Fox (Actor), Pope John Paul II
Recommended film
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“Awakenings” (True Story) Cast: Robin Williams and Robert Deniro
Recommended book
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– “Tuesdays with Morrie”
An old man, a young man and a life’s greatest lesson by Mitch Albom
Story of a professor who deals with ALS written by his student Mitch Albom
(Doctor is very learned person)
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