I wanted to share with you all a disease that I was introduced to earlier this year. Being in healthcare I have seen a lot of patients with a wide range of diagnoses from cancer to Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Dementia, etc. I have the pleasure of caring for a wonderful lady that is currently on Hospice with the disease I'm about to talk about. When I first met her and her wife, I didn't want to pry into what her prognosis was. I went in, did my care in my professional and personable manner. I went back the second time, and had a very in depth conversation with her spouse. She was speaking about the time that she was diagnosed. My first question was, is it Parkinson's? She said no, she has was is called CBD Disease. And she laughed and said, it's not the pain reliever! I then felt the need to look it up and learn more.
What I am about to tell you about is Corticobasal Degeneration, also known as CBD Disease. When I found out what it was and read about it, it made me cry. This disease is very similar to HD in many ways. It does have some symptoms that are of its own. In the next paragraph I will go into a brief overview of what CBD is.
What is Corticobasal Degeneration?
Corticobasal degeneration is a progressive neurological disorder characterized by nerve cell loss and atrophy (shrinkage) of multiple areas of the brain including the cerebral cortex and the basal ganglia. Corticobasal degeneration progresses gradually. Initial symptoms, which typically begin at or around age 60, may first appear on one side of the body, but eventually affect both sides as the disease progresses. Symptoms are similar to those found in Parkinson's disease, such as poor coordination, an absence of movements, a resistance to imposed movements, impaired balance; and abnormal muscle postures. Other symptoms such as cognitive and visual-spatial impairments, loss of the ability to make familiar, purposeful movements, hesitant and halting speech, myoclonus (muscular jerks), and dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) may also occur. An individual with Corticobasal Degeneration eventually becomes unable to walk.
There is no treatment available to slow the course of Corticobasal Degeneration, and the symptoms of the disease are generally resistant to therapy. Drugs used to treat Parkinson disease-type symptoms do not produce any significant or sustained improvement. Clonazepam may help the myoclonus. Occupational, physical, and speech therapy can help in managing disability.
For more information: Corticobasal Degeneration