08/06/2026
Parkinson’s Disease is often thought of as a modern illness, but it’s actually anything but modern.
In fact, descriptions of Parkinson’s-like symptoms can be found in ancient medical writings dating back thousands of years. Long before neurologists, MRI machines, and modern medicine, people were already observing the tremors, stiffness, and movement difficulties that we now recognize as Parkinson’s Disease.
For many years, the condition was known as “Shaking Palsy.” That name makes sense if all you know about Parkinson’s is tremors. After all, shaking is one of the most recognizable symptoms.
But here’s where things get interesting.
In the early 1800s, an English doctor named James Parkinson published a detailed description of the disease. His observations were so important that the condition was eventually renamed in his honor, becoming what we know today as Parkinson’s Disease.
Yet even that name can be misleading.
When most people hear “Parkinson’s,” they immediately picture someone with a visible tremor. It’s the symptom that appears in movies, television shows, and public awareness campaigns.
But about 20% of people with Parkinson’s never develop a noticeable tremor at all.
Think about that for a moment.
One out of every five people with Parkinson’s may never experience the symptom most people associate with the disease.
Instead, they may struggle with stiffness, slowness, balance problems, fatigue, sleep disturbances, anxiety, constipation, cognitive changes, or dozens of other symptoms.
Which raises an even stranger question.
How can the same disease affect both your balance and your sense of smell?
At first glance, those things seem completely unrelated.
One helps keep you upright. The other helps you enjoy a meal or notice the scent of fresh-cut grass.
Yet Parkinson’s can affect both.
Many people lose part or all of their sense of smell years before they are diagnosed. Others struggle with balance as the disease progresses. The connection is that Parkinson’s affects multiple areas of the nervous system, not just the parts involved in movement.
That’s one reason Parkinson’s can be so difficult to understand.
It isn’t simply a movement disorder.
It isn’t simply a tremor disorder.
It isn’t simply a balance disorder.
It’s a complex neurological condition that can affect nearly every aspect of a person’s life in different ways.
And perhaps that is the most important thing to remember.
No two people experience Parkinson’s exactly the same way.
One person may have a tremor.
Another may never shake at all.
One may lose their sense of smell.
Another may struggle primarily with balance.
Different symptoms. Different journeys.
The same disease.
That’s what makes Parkinson’s both fascinating and challenging—and why there is still so much for all of us to learn.
