• A doctor may diagnose a person with Parkinson's disease based on the patient's symptoms and medical history.
• No blood tests or x-rays can show whether a person has Parkinson's disease.
• However, some kinds of x-rays can help your doctor make sure nothing else is causing your symptoms.
• If symptoms go away or get better when the person takes a medicine called levodopa, it's fairly certain that he or she has Parkinson's disease.

Doctors don't know exactly what causes Parkinson's disease. They do know some medicines can cause or worsen symptoms of Parkinson's disease. However, symptoms often disappear when the patient stops taking the medicines.

Experts have identified aging as an important factor that contributes to Parkinson’s in some individuals.

Most Parkinson’s disease cases are sporadic — meaning that genetics and family history have not played a clear role in the onset and development of the disease.

Scientists suspect that for most people, the cause is probably a combination of genetic and environmental factors. They believe these factors may vary from person to person.

Large epidemiological studies (studies that deal with incidence, distribution and control of disease in a population), demonstrate that people with an affected first-degree relative, such as a parent or sibling, have a two-to-three fold increased risk of developing Parkinson's, as compared to the general population.

Scientists have identified 13 genes that are associated with Parkinson’s and can cause the disease in a small number of families.

The genes identified to date include: PARK1, DJ-1 (PARK7), Pink1 (Park6), dardarin (DRDN), Tau, lrrk2, parkin, uchl-1, park3, park9, park10, park11.

• rural living
• well water
• herbicide use
• exposure to pesticides

as factors that may be linked to Parkinson’s.

Additionally, a synthetic narcotic agent called MPTP (1-methyl 4-phenyl 1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine) can cause immediate and permanent Parkinsonism if injected.