What is the main cause of PSP?

What causes PSP? PSP occurs when brain cells in certain parts of the brain are damaged as a result of a build-up of a protein called tau. Tau occurs naturally in the brain and is usually broken down before it reaches high levels. In people with PSP, it isn't broken down properly and forms harmful clumps in brain cells.

What are the first signs of PSP?

The most frequent first symptom of PSP is a loss of balance while walking. You may also have abrupt and unexplained falls without loss of consciousness, a stiff and awkward gait, or slow movement. As the disease progresses, most people develop blurred vision and problems controlling eye movement.

What are the 4 stages of PSP?

How long do you live with PSP?

PSP typically progresses to death in 5 to 7 years,¹ with Richardson syndrome having the fastest rate of progression.

Is PSP worse than Parkinson's?

Progressive supranuclear palsy is rare. It may be easily mistaken for Parkinson disease, which is much more common and has similar symptoms. But with PSP, speech and difficulty swallowing are usually affected more significantly than with Parkinson disease.

Progressive Supranuclear Palsy - Overview, Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatments, and Prognosis

What do the final stages of PSP look like?

Advanced stages

As PSP progresses to an advanced stage, people with the condition normally begin to experience increasing difficulties controlling the muscles of their mouth, throat and tongue. Speech may become increasingly slow and slurred, making it harder to understand.

What is the best treatment for PSP?

There are currently no medications that treat PSP specifically, but some people in the early stages of the condition may benefit from taking levodopa, amantadine or other medications used to treat Parkinson's disease.

What personality changes occur with PSP?

PSP patients typically have deficits in cognitive functioning, difficulties with most daily activities, and present with notable behavioral disturbances—particularly apathy, impulsivity, and irritability.

Do PSP patients feel pain?

Pain. Pain can be present as a direct result of PSP, or as part of any other conditions that you are experiencing.

Has anyone ever recovered from PSP?

There's currently no cure for PSP and no way to slow it down. But several treatments can help manage your symptoms and improve your quality of life.

Do PSP patients sleep a lot?

Patients with PSP may have significant sleep pattern disruptions because the disease affects some neural circuitries that are involved in sleep processing. They may suffer from insomnia, including difficulties with falling and staying asleep.

Is PSP hereditary?

Most cases of progressive supranuclear palsy are sporadic, which means they occur in people with no history of the disorder in their family. However, some people with this disorder have had family members with related conditions, such as parkinsonism and a loss of intellectual functions (dementia).

Is PSP a form of dementia?

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a frontotemporal dementia. It is characterised by difficulties with balance, movement, vision, speech and swallowing. It is caused by progressive damage to the cells in the brain that control eye movements.

What is the average age of onset for PSP?

According to some reports, PSP is estimated to affect as many as 5-17 in 100,000 people, but recent autopsy studies found PSP pathology in 2-6% of elderly people that had no diagnosis of PSP before death. The onset of this disorder occurs between 45 and 75 years of age, with the average age of onset at about 63 years.

Does stress cause PSP?

PSP patients were found to be three times more likely to report high exposure to highly stressful events than controls. This suggests that these highly stressful events may have a role in the etiopathogenesis of PSP.

What age does PSP start?

The only proven risk factor for progressive supranuclear palsy is age. The condition typically affects people in their late 60s and 70s. It's virtually unknown in people under the age of 40.

What is the 4th stage of PSP disease?

Advanced stage: In the advanced stage of PSP, individuals may become wheelchair-bound and require assistance with daily activities such as eating, dressing, and bathing. Symptoms such as rigidity, spasticity, and involuntary movements become more severe.

What are the traits of PSP?

As originally described, PSP was characterized by progressive supranuclear ophthalmoplegia, gait disorder and postural instability, dysarthria, dysphagia, rigidity, and frontal cognitive disturbance [1].

What activities can you do with progressive supranuclear palsy?

How rare is progressive supranuclear palsy?

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a rare brain disorder that causes dementia and problems with walking and balance. About 20,000 Americans — or one in every 100,000 people over age 60 — have PSP.

What is the sister disease to Parkinson's?

Progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, is a rare neurodegenerative disease that is often misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease because its symptoms are similar.

Is PSP a form of ALS?

In contrast, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is not regarded as a phenotype of PSP. The co-occurrence of PSP and ALS has recently attracted greater attention. The phenotypic coexistence of PSP and ALS has been documented in several cases [7,8,9].

What celebrities have progressive supranuclear palsy?

PSP is one of several progressive prime-of-life diseases that has claimed the lives of actors Robin Williams and Dudley Moore, and billionaire financier Richard Rainwater.

Is progressive supranuclear palsy painful?

Pain was significantly more common and more severe in PD and MSA compared to PSP (P < 0.01). Pain locations were similar with limb pain being the most common followed by neck and back pain.