Posture, rigid

Upon admission and control of seizure activity, a neurologic exam should be conducted to evaluate level of consciousness (coma, lethargy, and somnolence), motor function and reflexes (rhythmic contractions, rigidity, spasms, and posturing), and pupillary response. A physical exam to identify secondary injuries from the SE should also be conducted. 

In 1985, 1 finally took the county public health psychiatrist s recommendation to try Desipramine, an ostensibly mild tricyclic antidepressant. I took tiny dot doses, and for a month or so I felt encouraged except for intense muscle tension and clenching. The psychiatrist said it was not remotely possible that this response was related to the medication. I took a low dose for four more months before throwing them out. The side effects had escalated horribly, and become what I later learned are called tardive dyskinesia and tardive dystonia. Subsequently, chemical and electromagnetic field exposures, feeling compromised or ashamed, or stress can trigger uncontrollable movement, hyperactivity, rigid posture and then, frequently, paralysis. 

Live to acetylcholine activity. When this happens, the classic symptoms of Parkinson s disease emerge inclnding a tremor, stiffness and rigidity, a stooped posture, a masklike expressionless face, and a slow shuffling gait. 

Parkinson s disease (shaking palsy) and its syndromal forms are caused by a degeneration of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons. The resulting striatal dopamine deficiency leads to overactivity of choUnergic intemeurons and imbalance of striopallidal output pathways, manifested by poverty of movement (akinesia), muscle stiffness (rigidity), tremor at rest, postural instability, and gait disturbance. 

Parkinsonism is a neurological disease with a variety of origins characterized by tremor, rigidity, akinesia, and disorders of posture and equilibrium. The onset is slow and progressive, with symptoms advancing over months to years. 

Several types of abnormal movement are recognized. Tremor consists of a rhythmic oscillatory movement around a joint and is best characterized by its relation to activity. Tremor at rest is characteristic of parkinsonism, when it is often associated with rigidity and an impairment of voluntary activity. Tremor may occur during maintenance of sustained posture (postural tremor) or during movement (intention tremor). A conspicuous postural tremor is the cardinal feature of benign essential or familial tremor. Intention tremor occurs in patients with a lesion of the brain stem or cerebellum, especially when the superior cerebellar peduncle is involved it may also occur as a manifestation of toxicity from alcohol or certain other drugs. 

Parkinson disease usually begins in the fifth or sixth decade, and symptoms progressively worsen over a period of 10 to 20 years. It is estimated that more than 1 percent of the U.S. population older than 60 years is afflicted with Parkinson disease, making it one of the most prevalent neurologic disorders affecting elderly individuals.59 In addition to the symptoms of bradykinesia and rigidity, a patient with advanced Parkinson disease maintains a flexed posture and speaks in a low, soft voice (microphonia). If left untreated, the motor problems associated with this illness eventually lead to total incapacitation. Rehabilita-... 

Parkinson disease or parkinsonism The clinical syndrome of bradykinesia, rigidity, resting tremor, and postural instability associated with neurotransmitter abnormalities within the basal ganglia. 

Parkinson s disease consists of a severe reduction in the dopamine content in all components of the basal ganglia. Four separate groups of symptoms constitute the symptom complex that makes up parkinsonism. These consist of tremor at rest, akinesia or bradykinesia, rigidity, and loss of postural reflexes. 

The akinesia or bradykinesia is characterized by a poverty of spontaneous movements and slowness in initiation of movements. Rigidity or increased muscle tone occurs in response to passive movements. The loss of normal postural reflexes is a disorder of postural fixation and equilibrium. 

Parkinson s disease is characterized by tremor at rest, rigidity, hypokinesia, and postural abnormality. The 4- to 6-Hz tremor of parkinsonism is characteristically most conspicuous at rest it increases at times of emotional stress and often improves during voluntary activity. It commonly begins in... 

Several muscle problems may occur at higher doses. Examples include involuntary tremors, writhing, shivering, and jerky movements catatonia, a zombielike state characterized by changes in muscle tone and bizarre posturing muscle rigidity and immobility and loss of balance and dizziness. Many PCP abusers will notice an anesthetic effect resulting in increased pain threshold or numbness. 

Parkinsonism is the collective name for a group of disorders that share similar clinical characteristics, including tremor, rigidity of the limbs or trunk, bradyki-nesia, and postural instability. The most well known of these disorders is Parkinson s disease, which was first described in 1817 by James Parkinson in Essay on the Shaking Palsy (70). Parkinson s disease is also known as primary or idiopathic Parkinson s disease. 

Idiopathic Parkinson s, or Parkinson s, is a chronic and progressive disorder of the central nervous system, especially the motor control regions of the central nervous system. It is characterized by difficulty in initiating voluntary movements, decreased spontaneous movements, slowness of movements, muscular rigidity of the limbs and trunk, postural instability (especially an inability to... 

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