Progressive supranuclear palsy: symptoms, medications, etc. • hello healthy

Definition

What is progressive supranuclear palsy?

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), also known as Steele-Richardson-Olszewski syndrome, is a brain disorder that causes difficulty walking and disrupts body balance and eye movements. This disorder occurs due to a decrease in cells in the area of ​​the brain that control body and mind movements.

Progressive supranuclear palsy gets worse over time, and can progress to life-threatening complications, such as pneumonia and difficulty swallowing.

How common is progressive supranuclear palsy?

Only 3-6 out of 100,000 people in the world have progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). This condition is less common than Parkinson's disease. PSP symptoms usually begin after the age of 60, but they can appear earlier. Men are more often affected than women.

Symptoms

What are the symptoms of progressive supranuclear palsy?

Progressive supranuclear palsy features and symptoms include:

• Loses balance while walking. At the onset of the disease, sufferers may often fall backwards.
• Inability to properly direct the eye. You may have difficulty looking down, or experience blurred vision or double vision. This disorder makes many sufferers often spill food, or appear unfocused when spoken to because of difficulty making eye contact.

Other symptoms of progressive supranuclear palsy vary and can mimic those of Parkinson's disease or dementia. These symptoms will get worse as the disease worsens, including:

• Stiff body movements
• Often falls
• Speech problems and difficulty swallowing
• Sensitive to light
• Sleep disturbance
• Losing interest in things he used to like
• Impulsive behavior, including laughing or crying for no apparent reason
• Difficulty with memory, thinking clearly, solving problems, and making decisions
• Depression and anxiety
• Facial expressions such as fear or shock, due to stiff facial muscles

There may be symptoms not listed above. Consult your doctor for information about other symptoms.

Cause

What causes progressive supranuclear palsy?

The cause of progressive supranuclear palsy is unknown. However, researchers found that in people with progressive supranuclear palsy, the brain cells that had decreased performance had abnormal amounts of the tau protein. The buildup of tau protein also occurs in other degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's.

Progressive supranuclear palsy usually occurs without a family history of the disease.

Risk factors

Who is at risk for progressive supranuclear palsy?

The only factor that increases a person's risk for developing this disease is age. PSP usually affects people in their 60s, and has never been seen in people under 40.

Diagnosis & treatment

How is progressive supranuclear palsy diagnosed?

There is no specific test to diagnose PSP with precision. This disease is difficult to diagnose because the symptoms are very similar to those of other disorders, and some of the symptoms sometimes appear only when the condition is severe (or if they don't appear at all).

The doctor may check the patient's medical history, then perform a physical and neurological examination. An MRI-like scan can be done to check for shrinkage at the top of the brain stem. Other imaging tests can help show brain activity in areas that have decreased function.

PSP is often misdiagnosed because it is rare and has symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease. Memory problems and personality changes are also often mistaken for symptoms of depression, or even dementia.

The key to diagnosing PSP is to identify early symptoms such as body imbalance, difficulty moving the eyes, difficulty speaking and swallowing, including ensuring that these symptoms are not caused by another disease.

How to treat progressive supranuclear palsy?

There is no drug that can cure progressive supranuclear palsy, so sufferers can only take care to treat the symptoms.

These treatments include:

• Medicines for Parkinson's disease, which can increase dopamine, a muscle chemical that helps improve muscle movement. The effectiveness of these drugs is limited and usually lasts only 2-3 years.
• Botox can be injected in small doses into the muscles around the eyes, to block the chemical signals that make the muscles tense, so that spasms in the eyelids can be reduced.
• Glasses with a bifocal or prism lens, which can help with difficulty looking down.
• Therapy to help with difficulty swallowing.
• Physical therapy to help balance the body.

Researchers are working to develop drugs to treat progressive supranuclear palsy, including therapies that can prevent the formation of tau protein.

Lifestyle changes

What can people with progressive supranuclear palsy do?

To minimize the effects of progressive supranuclear palsy, here are the things you can do:

• Use eye drops to help treat dry eyes due to difficulty blinking or excessive tear production
• Install a pole or handle in toilets and showers to prevent you from falling easily
• Use a walker (such as a cane) to maintain balance
• Get rid of anything on the floor, including carpets, to prevent you from tripping over if you can't see down.
• Avoid going up and down stairs.

Please consult your doctor for more information.

Hello Health Group does not provide medical consultation, diagnosis or treatment.