Boxing legend Muhammad Ali and his fight against Parkinson's

Muhammad Ali died at the age of 74 after suffering from Parkinson's for 32 years. Immediately, blood poisoning led to his death, but it spread because his body was already weakened by the disease.

Loss of body control
Since 1984, the most famous boxer of all time knew he was suffering from this brain disease; Affected lose control of their body movements.

Even Muhammad Ali could not win the fight against Parkinson's.

No dopamine
The messenger substance dopamine passes on the information with which the brain controls body movements. In Parkinson's the body no longer produces the substance. If this substance is missing, the affected person trembles, their muscles in arms and legs stiffen, and the speech sounds blurry. They can barely smell, they suffer from constipation and erection problems.

Millions affected
Worldwide, approximately 5 million people suffer from the disease. The Parkinson Fund is based on 300,000 people affected in Germany. Most patients are about 60 years old when the disease breaks out.

Difficult diagnosis
A diagnosis is often only possible after years, because the first symptoms such as shaking hands also occur in other diseases. Slow movements may or may not be signs of Pakinson. The same is true for hitting while asleep: a first symptom of Parkinson's. Later, patients often can not walk and no longer organize everyday life.

A deadly disease?
Parkinson's disease is not fatal, but cell death damages the organism immensely, so that those affected often die from complications that affect the weakened body. The blood poisoning of Muhammad Ali is one of these complications.

Consequences of the disease
The muscle weakness of the patients triggers lung complaints. The patients can barely cough and swallow so that food gets into the lungs and ignites the organ.

cure?
Parkinson's is not curable. However, medicines like levodopa or selegiline relieve the symptoms. Those affected survive so often for several decades.

The brain converts levodopa to dopamine. Selegiline in turn prevents the body from degrading dopamine.

Physiotherapy and psychotherapy
Muhammad Ali did not give up and struggled with daily training against the disease. Sport, also in the form of physiotherapy, is just as important as psychotherapy to counteract the progression of Parkinson's.

Brain pacemaker
In 2015, researchers reported: New brain pacemaker helps with Parkinson's. With neurosurgical intervention, they insert electrodes into the brain and connect them to an electrical stimulator. While this does not cure the disease, it diminishes the symptoms. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)