[Oprah Daily] When my grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2014, I assumed it was pure bad luck—perhaps from some secret misprint wired deep in his genetic code, or something that "just happened" to certain people as they aged. Parkinson’s slowly deteriorates the brain’s basal ganglia (which are in charge of movement control). It caused my grandfather, who has since passed away, to suffer from seemingly uncontrollable tremors in his hands, as well as stiffness, trouble walking, and rapid weight loss. "This is hell," he told me once.But as I’ve learned from reading The Parkinson’s Plan, a new book from neurologists and researchers Ray Dorsey, MD, and Michael Okun, MD, the disease that affects 1.1 million Americans is not, as I’d assumed, just an unlucky break. Drs. Dorsey and Okun draw on decades of research to argue that Parkinson’s is preventable, not inevitable—and that it is driven in large part by modern pollution and chemical exposure. They propose a comprehensive plan, which calls for $3 billion of federal funding to tackle the environmental causes, bolster research efforts, increase access to care, and invest in new treatments. Their mission is to eradicate Parkinson’s once and for all.
"We wrote this book to prevent future generations from ever getting this disease," Dr. Dorsey tells me. "We wrote this book to help slow the rate of progression for those who already have the disease, and we wrote this book to come up with better ways to treat the disease." We spoke to Drs. Dorsey and Okun about what they’ve learned over their careers studying and treating Parkinson’s disease and what we all can do to reduce our risk.
