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Muhammad Ali and Parkinson's syndrome
- Helen Grant (13 September 2004)
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Parkinson's disease: the role of psychiatrists is ignored.
- Dr. Naseem A. Qureshi MD, IMAPA, LMIPS, Dr.Ibrahim A. Al-Hoqail, Dean, College of Medicine, MOH, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (15 September 2004)
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Helen Grant, MD FRCP London NW3 4XR
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The front cover of the current BMJ features a headline thus:"Treatment of early Parkinson's disease" and above it is a photograph of that towering and very tragic hero Muhammad Ali. There are two more pictures of him inside, each one also associating him with the idiopathic degenerative condition known as Parkinson's disease. Muhammad Ali has certainly suffered from the parkinsonian syndrome since his early thirties when he was the most famous heavy weight boxer in the world. His affliction however is not Parkinson's disease but Parkinson's syndrome, one of the commoner features of post-boxing traumatic encephalopathy (or the punch-drunk syndrome), caused by destruction of nuclei in the upper brain stem by repeated heavy blows to the head. The pro-boxing lobby, always anxious to assure the world that Muhammad Ali's condition is nothing to do with boxing, seems to have convinced the BMJ too.... Competing interests: None declared |
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Dr. Naseem A. Qureshi MD, IMAPA, LMIPS, Director, CME&R POBox.2292, Buraidah Ment. Halth. Hosp., Saudi Arabia., Dr.Ibrahim A. Al-Hoqail, Dean, College of Medicine, MOH, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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Sir: The chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disorders, cancers, and HIV/AIDS are well defined medical illustrations of body and mind connection. Parkinson's disease is another example of this sort. Surprisingly, the theme of this years World Mental Health Day to be celebrated worldwide on October 10, 2004 is "the relationship between physical and mental health: co-occurring disorders". In the context of this neurodegenerative disease, a variety of psychiatric disorders and non-motor symptoms are reported to comorbid with Parkinson's disease (PD), which are depression, anxiety, fatigue, nocturnal insomnia, diurnal excessive sleep, psychosis, visual hallucinations, paranoid ideations, schizophrenia and dementia and these disorders and behavioral symptoms have devastating impact on the quality of life of patients with PD. Besides psychologists, psychiatrists have a definite and very important role in the management of patients with PD and, unfortunately none of the contributors (1-5) to this beautifully written journey of PD patients has realized the potential therapeutic role of mental health professionals in particular psychiatrists. Finally, health consists of physical, psychological, social, spiritual and economic well being and it is not merely an absence of disease. It is advisable that the future reviews to be published in BMJ on chronic diseases and their journeys should embrace all these concepts in their descriptions. References: 1. Kamran Abbasi . Parkinson's disease: a journey. BMJ 2004; 329: 0-h 2. Yoav Ben-Shlomo and Kailash Bhatia. Using monoamine oxidase type B inhibitors in Parkinson's disease. BMJ 2004 329: 581-582. 3. Peter Lapsley and Trish Groves. The patient's journey: travelling through life with a chronic illness. BMJ 2004 329: 582-583. 4. Natalie J Ives, Rebecca L Stowe, Joanna Marro, Carl Counsell, Angus Macleod, Carl E Clarke, Richard Gray, and Keith Wheatley. Monoamine oxidase type B inhibitors in early Parkinson's disease: meta-analysis of 17 randomised trials involving 3525 patients. BMJ 2004 329: 593-0. 5. Mary G Baker and Lizzie Graham. The journey: Parkinson's disease. BMJ 2004 329: 611-614. Competing interests: None declared |
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