There’s been an incredible output of articles on Muhammad Ali‘s death, and now I sense a shift in the world regarding how we understand Parkinson’s disease.
Plenty of news stories link (tentatively if not outright) Ali’s Parkinson’s to his boxing career (click! click!), and there is a slew of PD 101 articles (e.g., click!). However, the Atlantic (click!) has gone the farthest by using the occasion to update everyone on the fact that Ali’s PD might have been caused by something else, such as exposure to pesticides and/or a genetic predisposition.
Furthermore, the Atlantic article discusses the dawning awareness among researchers that what we label as “Parkinson’s disease” may in fact be a bunch of different diseases which on the surface appear the same. In other words, my PD may not be the same as yours, not only because my symptoms don’t completely match yours, but because what’s happening at the microscopic level in my brain is completely different, too. Even though we both respond in similar ways to carbidopa/levodopa.
Quote from the Atlantic:
One day, these causes of Parkinson’s disease (syndrome) stand to be understood as different diseases, treated differently. The name Parkinson’s disease may well be forgotten long before the name Muhammad Ali.
Thus the world moves forward.
