symptom

My husband has a jerky head. It is becoming more rigid and it wants to pull to one side. Could this be a symptom of Parkinson's disease? His father had it in his late 70's. My hubby is only 56. When he sleeps his head is more stable, but his left arm punches up about every 30 seconds! He had a cervical mri and showed narrowing of spinal column in neck. He is getting a brain mri next. Dr. thought it was a stroke, seizure, tumor or parkinson's. I thought parkinson's was more of a hand and limb tremor??

[Christopher R Newey, DO]

Thanks for using the forum. I am happy to address your questions, and my answer will be based on the information you provided here. Please make sure you recognize that this forum is for educational purposes only, and it does not substitute for a formal office visit with a doctor.

Without the ability to examine and obtain a history, I can not tell you what the exact cause of the symptoms is. However I will try to provide you with some useful information.

Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease typically has characteristic findings of resting tremor in an extremity, slowness of movement, rigidity, and difficulties with posture and/or gait.

Having a tremor in the head without other features would be odd for typical Parkinson’s disease. There are other causes of tremor including dystonia, Parkinson-plus syndromes (for example multiple system atrophy which has overlap with Parkinson’s disease but additional features including myoclonus, cerebellar findings (which may be confused for incoordination), and/or autonomic features (for example bowel or bladder problems, difficulties sweating, etc) ), essential tremor (which is a tremor with action and with posture that can occur with the head and may improve after slight alcohol intake), etc.

I would suggest that your husband be evaluated by a neurologist with a movement disorders background. It is important to accurately characterize the tremor (e.g., when it occurs, how fast it moves, and location). The treatment will depend on the diagnosis. An mri is a good starting point.

Thank you for this opportunity to answer your questions, I hope you find the information I have provided useful, good luck.

[suzsibs]

It is possible it could be myoclonic jerks, myoclonus can be caused by spinal problems. It might be worth making enquiries with your doctor. If you would like any more info feel free to contact me. I suffer from spinal myoclonus and know a little bit about it.
All the best.
Suz

[shadowmax]

Thank you for this info. I will bring it up at his next appt!

[Mark48118]

Perhaps this is obvious, but ask about/read about torticollis (cervical dystonia) for the neck. It doesn't shed any light on the arm movements, though.