Stanford PD Community Blog

Parkinson Society British Columbia hosted a webinar on Dementia in Parkinson’s.  The speaker was geriatrician Naaz Parmar.

Just because you have PD doesn’t mean you can’t also have dementia. In this talk Dr. Parmar covered the definition of dementia, when should you have an assessment and what does that look like, the different types of dementia and finally, treatments.  Her argument about getting an early, accurate diagnosis​ for cognitive or memory changes is compelling.

Parkinson & Movement Disorder Alliance offered a webinar in early November on driving and road safety with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The speaker was Dr. Ergun Uc, a professor of neurology at the University of Iowa and movement disorder specialist with the Iowa City Veteran Affairs. He discussed research into how PD has affected their driving, and ways to make sure drivers with PD can be safe on the road.

The Multiple System Atrophy Coalition hosted a two-day conference in late October on various aspects of multiple system atrophy (MSA), which is a disorder similar to Parkinson’s disease (PD). (MSA is called an atypical parkinsonism disorder.) One of the talks, presented by Katie Kompoliti, MD, a movement disorder specialist at Rush University, focused on neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (nOH), which can occur in PD as well. Neurogenic orthostatic hypotension refers to a neurological disorder causing a large decrease in blood pressure when a person stands after sitting or lying down. 

The Multiple System Atrophy Coalition offered a two-day conference in late-October on various aspects of multiple system atrophy (MSA), which is a disorder similar to Parkinson’s disease (PD) (MSA is called an atypical parkinsonism disorder). One of the talks, presented by Tom Chelimsky, MD, a neurologist at Wisconsin Medical College, focused on blood pressure issues in multiple system atrophy patients, but his advice applies to Parkinson’s patients. 

The Parkinson Association of Northern California (PANC) hosted a day-long conference on Parkinson’s disease (PD). One of the talks was a fireside chat on living with Parkinson’s. The moderator was Suketu Khandhar, MD, movement disorder specialist at Kaiser Permanente. The keynote speaker was Soania Mathur, MD, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at 28 years old and has been living with Parkinson’s for 21 years.