Involuntary movements that are slow, writhing, flowing or rhythmic, and repeating. These movements can involve any part, or all, of the body and sometimes are called athetoid movements. Athetosis signals damage to the basal ganglia. In Parkinson’s disease, athetosis is a secondary symptom that is a side effect of prolonged treatment with Levodopa and most commonly involves the fingers, hands, and arms. It develops as Parkinson’s disease progresses and the substantia nigra’s capacity to produce dopamine dwindles. This decrease in dopamine production causes a higher level of more dopamine to circulate in the brain than the brain’s dopamine receptors are able to receive, causing an imbalance that generates abnormal movement. Athetosis is a side effect as well of other medication therapies that interfere with dopamine functions, such as antipsychotics, for similar reasons. in other movement disorders such as cerebral palsy and Huntington’s disease, atheto-sis is a primary symptom that often accompanies other dyskinesias and results from damage caused by the disease itself rather than by its treatment.
Treatment for athetosis in Parkinson’s focuses on moderating the dopaminergic effects of drugs such as levodopa. Generally therapy employs a combination of implementing adjunct therapies and reducing the levodopa dosage. The time frame during which athetosis develops in Parkinson’s varies among individuals, although most who take levodopa long term (as is currently the conventional treatment approach) eventually experience problems. Some people can have decades of lev-odopa treatment with few adverse effects, other people begin to experience adverse effects within a few years. .
