r/science • u/SunCloud-777 • Sep 24 '22

Chemistry Parkinson’s breakthrough can diagnose disease from skin swabs in 3 minutes

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/parkinsons-breakthrough-can-diagnose-disease-from-skin-swabs-in-3-minutes/
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u/TTran1485 Sep 24 '22

No it doesn’t. I never said anything about slowing down the progression. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s drugs can only combat the symptoms. It’s not on me that you are putting words in my mouth I.e imagining things. I am literally in medschool

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u/Valathia Sep 24 '22

Can't the progress be slowed down with proper exercise and physiotherapy?

Genuinely asking , I have an uncle with PD and doctors insist on him doing physical therapy/exercise more than anything.

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u/[deleted] Sep 24 '22

I have also heard that a healthy lifestyle can "slow down" progression but it's hard to determine whether it literally affects the disease process or not. It's kind of a technicality since a sedentary lifestyle is a bigger threat than Parkinson's for most age groups.

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u/burnalicious111 Sep 24 '22

Why is it valuable to catch it early, then, if early seems to mean almost no noticeable symptoms?

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u/kuroimakina Sep 24 '22

Exercising and eating can help, even if indirectly. While it might not slow Parkinson’s itself, it’ll certainly be easier to live with if you have good diet and exercise vs being 250 pounds and out of shape.

Also, as morbid as it is, it’s easier to plan out your long term care the earlier you catch it. It could mean the difference between being able to save up and plan your life around it, vs suddenly discovering it and having absolutely no time to prepare/plan

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u/[deleted] Sep 24 '22

For one thing, life planning. Most people only find out once they've progressed to the point where they're becoming physically disabled. Early detection allows people to not only start exercise therapy sooner, but it allows them to make plans and accomplish things in anticipation of the future. A longer period of time before symptoms get bad can also make the disease easier to adjust to emotionally because you won't be fighting your head and your body at the same time