A Dream Made Alan Alda Suspect He Had Parkinson’s Disease

Actor Alan Alda, best known for the hit tv show MASH as well as acting rolls in many movies, has revealed that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease over three years ago. In an interview on CBS This Morning on Tuesday, Alda said he decided to speak publicly about his diagnosis because his thumb was twitching in recent TV interviews and he thought people would be curious.

But before his official diagnosis, it was a much weirder symptom that tipped him off.

Alda explained that he had been acting out his dreams during sleep.

“I was having a dream that someone was attacking me and I threw a sack of potatoes at him, but what I was really doing was throwing a pillow at my wife,” Alda, 82, said, noting that he didn’t have any other symptoms at the time. It wasn’t until months later that he noticed his thumb twitching.

So, Alda asked for a brain scan and was eventually diagnosed with the disease. Although there isn’t a specific test that can be used to definitively diagnose Parkinson’s, doctors may use brain scans, blood tests, and other exams to rule out other options.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder that affects the nerves and, consequently, movement, the Mayo Clinic explains. Although symptoms may start mildly, they become more severe over time and may include tremors as well as muscle stiffness, slowed movement, impaired balance, and changes in speech and/or writing. The exact cause of the disorder is unknown, but age, genes, and environmental factors may play a role.

Parkinson’s often comes with sleep disturbances, and acting out dreams can be an early warning sign.

Your sleep habits will change naturally as you age, but people with Parkinson’s tend to have more sleep issues than people without Parkinson’s of the same age, the UCSF Parkinson’s Disease Clinic and Research Center explains. Those disturbances may include insomnia, sleep apnea, and vivid dreams.

But if someone is acting out their dreams along with movements or vocalization during sleep, that’s a sign of an REM behavior disorder, a sleep disorder that occurs specifically during the dream-heavy REM stage. Those movements might include kicking, flailing your arms, or punching as if you’re defending yourself during a violet dream (as Alda described), and may be accompanied by laughing, talking, or shouting. These episodes may also gradually get worse.

People don’t normally move during REM-stage sleep thanks to the nervous system process that causes paralysis while you’re dreaming, according to the Mayo Clinic. So, if you are moving during that stage, that suggests there may be an issue affecting that process—possibly a neurological disorder like Parkinson’s.

If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms or symptoms of any other sleep disorder, it’s worth talking to your doctor.

But Alda, who shared that he takes boxing lessons three times a week, said that an early diagnosis of Parkinson’s doesn’t mean your life will immediately change monumentally. “In the beginning, to be immobilized by fear and think the worst thing has happened to you—it hasn’t happened to you,” he said. “You still have things you can do.”

Source: CBS

More articles

Donate now to save Baby Jésus’ life!

Every day, Jésus experiences excruciating pain due to a rare and blistering skin condition called EB. With up to 80% of his skin affected, he relies on pain medication just […]

Read More

FDA Issues Warning About Fake Paracetamol Tablets

Do you know how to spot the difference between a real pill and a counterfeit one?

Read More

Mother captures heartwarming bonding session between her baby and kitten on video

As God is the creator of all living beings on this planet, he wants us to take care of all […]

Read More

The Worst Disease You Have Never Seen of the Year

baby-jesus-help-now

BABY JESÚS suffers in severe pain with 80% skin loss. You can stop his pain with a small donation to purchase pain medicine. Thank you!

Recent posts

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. Proverbs 14:30 No Comparison Movies, TV shows, and advertisements all encourage us to compare ourselves to […]

Read More

Donate now to save Baby Jésus’ life!

Every day, Jésus experiences excruciating pain due to a rare and blistering skin condition called EB. With up to 80% of his skin affected, he relies on pain medication just […]

Read More

The Worst Disease You Have Never Seen of the Year

Joyce suffers in extreme pain every day from a rare blistering skin disease known as EB. With up to 80% skin loss, she can’t go one day without having pain […]

Read More

We are God’s masterpiece

We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 One of the things we love about […]

Read More

Are You Ignoring Jesus?

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Psalm 150:6 When we think about praising God, we often consider praying and singing as our primary ways, which they probably are. […]

Read More

Be Made New

Be made new in the attitude of your minds. Ephesians 4:23 You can’t deny the power that someone else’s genuinely positive attitude can have on you. It can be a […]

Read More
Scroll to Top