About half a million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, according to the National institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
While the disease is known for causing tremors in the people who live with it, that is far from its only complication: it can also cause hallucinations and delusions in some patients.
Dr. Rajesh Pahwa, director of the Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence at the University of Kansas Medical Center, works with the More to Parkinson's campaign to try to raise awareness of that fact. He told KCUR that as many as half of Parkinson's patients could experience these symptoms.
"When a person starts to lose insight, when they cannot differentiate reality from seeing things, that is when they really get bothersome and they get affected," Pahwa said.
"It's important to discuss with your physician on every visit if there are things that a person is seeing or believing that may not be true."
- Dr. Rajesh Pahwa, director of the Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence at the University of Kansas Medical Center
