Health Matters; Parkinson’s Disease [PODCAST]

This week on WJON's Health Matters program I talked with Dr. Kathleen Rieke from CentraCare.  Dr. Rieke is a neurologist at CentraCare.  We discussed Parkinson's Disease.  Dr. Rieke says people don't typically contract Parkinson's Disease early in life and we still don't know why someone gets Parkinson's but she says there seems to be a genetic connection.  Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in his 30s but that is considered unusual.  Dr. Rieke says most people don't die because of Parkinson's unless they get it early in life.  Listen to our 4-part conversation below.

Dr. Rieke says they encourage those with Parkinson's to be active.  She says shadow boxing can be helpful and so can encouraging Parkinson's patients to be loud.  Dr. Rieke says Parkinson's patients have a tendency to talk quietly.  Dr. Rieke says tremors typically is why people come in for tests and the tremors have a tendency of getting worse over time.  Learn more about Parkinson's disease at Parkinson.org.