Posted on 11/27/2019 6:51:49 PM PST by BenLurkin
For Parkinson’s patients, deep brain stimulation (DBS) can help control a number of neurological symptoms, like muscle spasms and stiffness. But one weird side effect has surfaced in a string of case studies: Some patients, no matter how good their motor skills, lose their ability to swim after the procedure.
Researchers from the University of Zürich in Switzerland published a report today in Neurology identifying nine cases where patients couldn’t stay afloat after DBS. And these people weren’t water-shy, first time doggie paddlers — two of the cases involved former competitive swimmers.
And, researchers report, the entire cohort had had no trouble swimming even after their Parkinson’s diagnosis. Rather, it seems that the invasive procedure — which involves implanting electrodes around the brain and heart to intercept erratic electrical signals — is what triggered the patients’ lack of buoyancy.
Christian Baumann, a neurologist at the University of Zürich, said the research team garnered interest in the topic after they learned one of their DBS patients had jumped into a lake and almost drowned.
After the patient's brush with death, the doctors began asking others with DBS devices about their swimming abilities.
Three of the nine patients, they learned, had turned off their deep brain devices and immediately were able to swim.
This isn't the first time researchers have observed this odd connection. In 2015, four similar case studies spanning two decades were reported by researchers in Australia. Three of those patients drowned after suddenly losing their swimming ability after DBS.
(Excerpt) Read more at discovermagazine.com ...
My mind is still processing the neuroscience to understand exactly why this symptom occurs.
If stimulating the brain area to decrease Parkinson’s symptoms decreased a person’s ability to swim, I wonder the influence of swimming alone on Parkinson’s symptoms.
I find it unusual that the Parkinson’s sample population had the high quantity of swimmers. Only severe symptoms would result in this procedure being performed.
Are they as a result of medications?
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