Good morning, List -
I can't be sure, Heidi, but I would imagine that this term, "vascular
parkinsonism," may refer to the speed and the control which the smooth
muscle fibres in
the walls of the blood vessels have, to contract to propel blood through
them. If the propulsion of the blood is "slowed down," or if the
contractions of the walls of the blood
vessels are "dystonic" or irregular, then the muscle fibres may appear to
be behaving
similarly to those visible muscles (like your biceps) under voluntary
control.
This is just a subjective guess. Not an authoritative answer.
The whole question of SMOOTH, INVOLUNTARY muscle fibres INSIDE our
bodies displaying PD-like characteristics, or "parkinsonism," has not
been dwelled
upon by us on the List. But as PD advances, the slowing down affects
-emptying the bladder
-emptying the bowels
-swallowing
-blinking of the eyes
-contraction of the iris around the pupil (of the eyes)
-flexing of the eardrum to accommodate to sounds;
and these are just a few examples. All of these structures are affected
by
vascular parkinsonism, if I have guessed well at what it is. And of
course,
it would seem reasonable to assume that those of us with advancing
Parkinson's Disease do indeed have true vascular problems that are
associated with PD.
Enough of my thoughts on the topic for now.
Hope this helps. I wonder what others think about the whole
subject of the hidden, unseen effects of PD on our blood vessels.
Ivan :-)
-
On Mon, 7 Jun 1999 18:09:19 +0000 Mary Legan <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>I saw the term "vascular parkinsonism" recently. The archives
>brought
>up only one post in which that term was used, but not explained.
>Does
>anyone know what this is? I'm wondering if this could be important
>to
>those with various vascular diseases, including myself.
>
>Heidi
^^^^^^ WARM GREETINGS FROM ^^^^^^^^^^^^ :-)
Ivan Suzman 49/39/36 [log in to unmask] :-)
Portland, Maine land of lighthouses 77 deg. F :-)
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