More than half of people with PD overestimate how well they are able to smell. Loss of smell is one of the earliest symptoms of PD and among patients with PD, and nearly all patients with PD exhibit some loss of smell. Why is that a problem? Because loss of smell is one of the earliest signs of cognitive decline; Individuals with the poorest sense of smell at diagnosis are the most likely to develop dementia in the 10 years that follow.
In addition to being a risk factor for cognitive decline, loss of smell is a risk factor for malnutrition. People with hyposmia are more likely to have diminished appetite, early satiety, and weight loss.
In this course I'll explain why smell is affected in PD, show hyou how to test your sense of smell, and cover treatment options for smell retraining.
"Shocking and enlightening! Gosh, thank you a million times Dr. Mischley for taking such good of us!"
"Thank you Dr Mischley for sharing your knowledge with a wider public through this platform."
"Dear Dr. Mischley, Thank you very much for all of the insights that you shared."
Your Instructor
Dr. Mischley has spent the past two decades studying the unique nutritional requirements of people with Parkinsonism and working to find better ways to measure, monitor, predict, and prevent PD. Her academic training is in naturopathic medicine (ND), nutrition (PhD), and epidemiology (MPH). She built the Parkinson Symptom Tracking App (www.pd-symptoms.com), has trained dogs to detect the scent of parkinsonism in ear wax (ParK-9.com), is lead investigator of the MVP-Study.com, and is founder of the Parkinson Center for Pragmatic Research (CPR). She created Parkinson-School.com in 2020 as a way to empower patients, accelerate education and catalyze some long overdue conversations.