During REM (rapid eye movement) sleep cycles, most people are effectively paralyzed, so they don’t act out dreams. But a third of all people with Parkinson’s disease also have REM sleep behaviour disorder, a condition that removes that sleep paralysis and can cause people to lash out or hurt their bed partners. Her research is … Read more
Deep brain stimulation involves surgically placing electrodes deep into the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease to relieve the stiffness, tremors and rigidity the illness causes. For many people, the treatment has immediate and life-changing results. The surgery is not always successful, however, a problem Greydon Gilmore, a PhD student, attributes in part to the … Read more
Dr. Oleh Hornykiewicz was born in 1926 in Sykhiw (a district of Lviv), then in Poland (now Ukraine). Widely recognized as one of the world’s leading neuroscientists, Dr. Hornykiewicz’ international reputation was cemented early in his career when he determined that Parkinson’s disease results from too little of one kind of neurotransmitter known as dopamine. His subsequent development of L-dopa … Read more
In communities across Canada we know that there are people living with or affected by Parkinson’s whose everyday heroism is an example to others. Since 2016, we’ve hosted our Everyday Heroes, Extraordinary Hope contest in acknowledgment of this. Last year’s winner was Josephine Jollymore of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Selflessly working to improve the lives of … Read more
On April 1st, Parkinson Canada welcomed a new president and CEO, Karen Lee, PhD. We sat down with Karen for an interview, so you can get to know her and hear about her vision for the organization. What is your connection to Parkinson’s? KL: Throughout my childhood, I remember spending a lot of time with … Read more
Linda Redford, a communication and change management expert met her husband Don, then a journalist, over 21 years ago. Shortly after they married, Don was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. He was terrified of what he did not know about the disease and how the future he had just begun with his new wife would unfold. Their … Read more
As a clinical fellow at the Toronto Western Hospital Movement Disorders Clinic, Dr. Emily Swinkin will learn more about how to use techniques like deep brain stimulation and an intestinal gel called Duodopa to better treat people with complicated cases or those in the later stages of Parkinson’s disease. She looks forward to building … Read more
Some people with Parkinson’s disease experience freezing of gait every day. Unfortunately, medication that reduces motor symptoms of this disease doesn’t usually help with freezing. At McGill University, PhD student Alexandra Potvin-Desrochers is investigating the connectivity between the regions of the brain involved in freezing. Her aim is to determine whether combining rTMS—repetitive Transcranial Magnetic … Read more