Introduction

Summary

The non-motor manifestations of Parkinson’s disease have been known since the description of the disease by James Parkinson in 1817. In his ‘Essay of the Shaking Palsy’, he clearly stated ‘sleep becomes much disturbed … .the bowels, which had been all along torpid, in most cases demand stimulating medicines of very considerable power … .sometimes the expulsion of feces requiring mechanical aid’ [1]. However, for years the emphasis has been on the motor features which define the disease, largely by the availability of dopaminergic and other agents which alleviate the bradykinesia and rigidity, and partly also the tremor. In fact, these drugs added new non-motor manifestations.