When interviewing a client suspected of exhibiting signs of Parkinson's disease, the nurse shows an understanding of the disease's etiology when asking:

Question

1. "Do you recall if any of your relatives had difficulty holding on to things with his or her hands?"
2. "Did I understand correctly that your memory problems started about 5 years ago?"
3. "Is it painful to flex your chin to your chest?"
4. "Did your muscle weakness first occur in your arms or in your legs?"

Answer 1

"Do you recall if any of your relatives had difficulty holding on to things with their hands?"

Rationale: In Parkinson's disease (PD), the resulting lack of dopamine production leads to difficulty with movement, tremor, rigidity, and difficulty maintaining posture. It is thought that the resulting disease process results from a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Slow and insidious in onset, and ranging over a course of 3 to 20 years, Alzheimer's disease progressively degrades cognitive function. The symptoms of multiple sclerosis include L'Hermite's sign, or a shocklike pain that results from flexion of the neck. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) symptoms first present in an arm in roughly half of the cases, with about 20% of the occurrences affecting a leg.