The future of Parkinsons disease diagnosis could be completely changing and its all thanks to one extraordinary woman. <\/p>\n
In this episode of the BBC Two programme Incredible Medicine: Dr Westons Casebook, Dr Weston investigated cases of people with phenomenal brains all over the world. <\/p>\n
In one of the most amazing stories, one woman, Joy Milne, shares her unique ability to smell things others cant. <\/p>\n
As a nurse I found I could smell a lot of things, like blood, she said. I didnt realise not everyone could smell them. <\/p>\n
This didnt affect her life too much until she stumbled across what has become known as her sensory superpower. <\/p>\n
GETTY\/BBC TWO <\/p>\n
It's a heavy, musky smell <\/p>\n
Joy Milne <\/p>\n
When her husband Les hit his mid-thirties, Joy started to notice his smell had changed. She said: I started to nag him that he needed to shower a bit more and brush his teeth better. <\/p>\n
But Les insisted he was washing just as frequently as before. <\/p>\n
Soon after, he was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease, a progressive neurological condition for which there is no cure. The main symptoms are tremors, rigidity and slowness of movement. <\/p>\n
Its not easy to diagnose, and there are currently no laboratory tests to confirm it but this could all change thanks to Joys ability. <\/p>\n
As her and her husband encountered other Parkinsons patients, she discovered why Les had smelled so different to her. <\/p>\n
Getty Images <\/p>\n
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Tremor - One of the most noticeable signs of Parkinson's is a tremor that often starts in the hands or fingers when they are relaxed <\/p>\n
After the first group we went to I said, they smell the same as you Les. These people smell like you. <\/p>\n
She described the Parkinsons scent as a Heavy, musky smell. <\/p>\n
In 2012 Joy attended a talk by Tilo Kunath, a Parkinsons specialist. At the end she stood up and asked a question: Why arent we using the smell of Parkinsons? <\/p>\n
A bemused Tilo contacted her after the talk and was shocked to hear how she had noticed Less scent difference even before he was diagnosed. <\/p>\n
Tilo recruited 12 volunteers, six with Parkinsons and six without, and Joy was given their t-shirts to smell. <\/p>\n
She identified all six of the Parkinsons sufferers but said one of the non-Parkinsons volunteers had the condition too. However, six months later that person was also diagnosed with the disease. <\/p>\n
Tests show that Joy really can smell Parkinsons and can detect it before patients have any symptoms and this is good news for scientists. <\/p>\n
The scent was strongest for Joy on the backs of the t-shirts, meaning it was coming from the volunteers sebum, an oily or waxy matter thats secreted to lubricate and waterproof our skin and hair. <\/p>\n
Chemists tested this and found 9,000 molecules made up this sebum. If they could isolate the ones that differ between Parkinsons sufferers and non-sufferers, they could potentially create an accurate diagnostic test to detect Parkinsons much earlier. <\/p>\n
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Incredible Medicine: Real-life superhero SMELLS Parkinson's disease before it's diagnosed - Express.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The future of Parkinsons disease diagnosis could be completely changing and its all thanks to one extraordinary woman. In this episode of the BBC Two programme Incredible Medicine: Dr Westons Casebook, Dr Weston investigated cases of people with phenomenal brains all over the world Continue reading