A typical pharmacy in the UK provides care for 10 patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and will have one to two newly diagnosed patients each year. When communicating with a person with PD it is important to remember their speech may be slurred and that they may take slightly longer to initiate conversation and lack facial expression when talking. Their voice can often be monotone, and they can also experience dyskinesias (involuntary muscle movements, such as jerking, twitches, or spasms) which can affect any part of the body including the face.

Cognition issues can be a side-effect of both PD itself and PD medications, so slowness of thought is quite common. When asking a question, the person may therefore be slow to respond.

Treatment

When treatment becomes necessary, not every patient will be on the same regimen or combination of medications. The three main first-line treatments for the control of motor symptoms are: 

• Levodopa
• Non-ergot derived dopamine agonists
• Monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) inhibitors.

All PD medications currently available are for symptom management as no medication has yet been proven to have disease modifying or neuroprotective properties. As PD is an incurable progressive condition, the aim of treatment is to control the symptoms and to improve the patient’s quality of life.