Ataxia is Parkinson Disease ?

[kuchee]

Is Parkinson disease (PD) and Ataxia is from the same family of disorder?

I have seen the same medicines are working in both conditions.

An elaboration would be appreciated.

[wobblybee]

🙂 It is acknowledged that symptoms of Neurological conditions can ‘overlap’. And, some types of ataxia are linked with Parkinson’s.

[kuchee in reply to wobblybee]

Thanks fr acknowledgment. This means the meds can also be the same fr both diseases. May be this is the reason My doc has prescribed new meds which r given to Parkinson’s patients and these r working better fr me.

[ConfusedAtaxian in reply to kuchee]

What meds are they, kuchee?

[kuchee in reply to ConfusedAtaxian]

Hi CA, Its levodopa/Carbidopa, its for imbalance, muscles strengths, fatigue & Slur speech. \the Mechanism of Levodopa is converted to dopamine via the action of a naturally occurring enzyme called DOPA decarboxylase. This occurs both in the peripheral circulation and in the central nervous system after levodopa has crossed the blood brain barrier. 40-50% results observed yet!. I am prescribed 50/12.5 mg/ twice a day.

[HarryB Administrator]

Hi kuchee

Ataxia and Parkinson’s Disease (PD) are both neurological disorders, but they affect different parts of the neurological system in the human body. The underlying causes of both are very different.

I note from one of your previous posts that you have a SCA (spinocerebellar ataxia). There are many different types of SCA. In some SCAs some symptoms seen may be similar to those seen in PD, and those symptoms may be helped by the medications used in PD.

Best wishes

Harriet

[kuchee in reply to HarryB]

Hi Harriet, yes i was diagnosed as SCA by the same neurologist and have been had the symptoms already since 2015.

by using new meds (levodopa/ carbidopa) along with Q10, resulted improvement for quality of living .i.e. imbalance, muscles strength and fatigue etc...

since the symptoms is on siblings as well, the above meds are giving positive impression so far. I will continue for 6 weeks then see again the neurologist.

[murcia]

News to me🤷🏻‍♀️

[february]

Dear kuchee, I agree with what other's have said! I have ataxia due to late onset/adult Niemann Pick C disease (I was 43 when I first noticed something was amiss, diagnosed at 49 and am 65 now. Several months ago, my neurologist prescribed a drug used for Parkinson's Disease patients and it did nothing for my ataxia! I'm glad it's working for you! My best to you..., ;o)

[kuchee in reply to february]

Thank you February. what meds of prkinson's was prescribed for you?

[february in reply to kuchee]

My neurologist prescribed Levodopa for my ataxia due to NPC. Unfortunately, as I said previously, it did nothing for me! My best to you..., ;o)

[sunvox]

Cardidopa/Levadopa is often used off label to treat general neurological conditions, but the primary reason people with Parkinson's take C/L is to boost production of dopamine. People with SCA do not have issues with dopamine.

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webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-3394...

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From WEB MD:

"This combination medication is used to treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease or Parkinson-like symptoms (such as shakiness, stiffness, difficulty moving). Parkinson's disease is thought to be caused by too little of a naturally occurring substance (dopamine) in the brain. Levodopa changes into dopamine in the brain, helping to control movement. Carbidopa prevents the breakdown of levodopa in the bloodstream so more levodopa can enter the brain."

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The reason Parkinson's is similar to SCA is because of mutant proteins and how they cause damage in the body. In genetic forms of SCA the body produces a protein that is too big. In my disease SCA1 the protein is ATXN1. In Parkinson's the protein is called alpha-synuclein. In Huntington's disease it is HTT. In Alzheimer's the protein is beta-amyloid. In each instance the protein is too big and "folds" up so the brain doesn't properly recognize the protein and can't clear it out of the body once it is done doing it's intended job. Scientifically this process is called oligomerization, and it is only recently that scientists and researchers have begun to realize the commonality of these diseases. As Harriet hinted each bad protein plays a different role and is found in different regions of the brain so the symptoms for each disease are slightly different plus there are other factors involved in each different disease beyond just the mutant protein.

BUT . . . the point of all this is that IN THEORY any medicine or chemical that helps the brain clear out proteins that are too big and "folded" might be helpful for ALL such neurological disorders.

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A common mechanism of proteasome impairment by neurodegenerative disease-associated oligomers: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/295...

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I eat what I eat, exercise as I do, and take the supplements I take all in hopes that what I am doing is helping my brain to clean out mutant proteins from my brain. So far my alternative therapy appears to be working. You may be interested in reading what I am doing and why:

healthunlocked.com/ataxia-u...

Joe in NY

[kuchee]

Hi Joe, thanks for reply. Its always worthy to have your insightful.

Yes , important is to evaluate and to have the meds/ chemical intake in view of own benefits that helps neurological disorders. As cdoa/ldopa is working fine for me as of now.

Cheers