Parkinson’s disease manifests through numerous symptoms, more than 40 actually, including the familiar tremor affecting arms and hands.
The development and order of these symptoms varies amongst the roughly 153,000 UK inhabitants battling this incurable neurological condition.
The majority of those with Parkinson’s disease are aged over 50, though 1% of patients are younger.
While the three most prevalent symptoms chiefly affect physical mobility, there exists one less obvious symptom that may appear years ahead of the others.
The NHS identifies the main indicators of Parkinson’s as:
The illness also brings various psychological symptoms, including anxiety, depression and memory difficulties. For some individuals, one of the earliest indicators of Parkinson’s is a loss of smell, or anosmia.
The NHS says this symptom “sometimes occurs several years before other symptoms develop”, including those associated with movement. Parkinson’s UK notes that as many as 95% of individuals with the condition experience a loss or decline in their sense of smell “to some degree”.
While it may be regarded as a “hidden” symptom, its effect is substantial for those who can no longer detect the aroma of their food, potentially resulting in additional complications. The charity stated: “Loss of smell can affect people in different ways.
“We rely on our sense of smell to taste food, so reduced smell can lead to weight loss or weight gain. It can also affect your mood, relationships and overall quality of life. In addition, loss of smell can affect your safety – for example, being unable to smell food burning.
“It does not respond to Parkinson’s medication, so is unlikely to get better even with this treatment.”
Other signs of Parkinson’s as outlined by the NHS include:
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
